Choosing the Best All Around Rod and Reel for Fishing Cape Cod

Is there one rod and reel you can buy to cover the myriad saltwater fishing scenarios found on Cape Cod? The answer .....kind of.

​

Like most other sporting equipment these days, fishing gear has become highly specialized and technical. There are hundreds of rods and reels designed to specifically address one or a couple of unique fishing conditions. They will vary in length, stiffness, weight and a variety of other parameters to perfectly address one species of fish, in one set of conditions.

​

What we get asked frequently in the shop is ' I only want to buy one rod to fish saltwater from shore and my boat this year, is there one rod and reel that will let me do that ?"  You can choose a rod and reel combo that will excel for one area , but will only be passable in a couple of others because it will be a little too light or a little too heavy. For example, a 7' medium light action rod coupled with a reel that can hold 200 yds of 20 lb braid, will be great for early season schoolies, a little less great for bigger bay or jetty fish, but a disaster for fishing Nauset in a heavy surf. On the other hand, an 8' mh action rod will do ok for some true surf fishing, but will be a whole bunch of overkill for first of the year schoolies. What you need to ask yourself is, realistically, what kind of fishing will you be doing 80-90% of the time?  If you outfit yourself for that, generally, you can get by with a combo a little too light or a little too heavy for other types of fishing.

​

We have found that a 7- 7.5 foot medium action rod matched with a reel that has 150-200 yard 20lb line capacity  will cover most of the bases for most people.Again, it will likely be a bit on the heavy size for 16 inch May schoolies, just about perfect for bay, jetty and light boat fishing and passable on a nice day for surfcasting the outer beaches.

Below we have listed some examples:​​