Budget Friendly Fishing

Hey Fisher Friends!

So today I wanted to write about fishing setups that are budget friendly. I’m in university and therefore on a student budget. Luckily I grew up fishing and with a fishing family so I’ve been lucky enough to have lures, rods, reels and even some old school Scotty downriggers passed down to me. But I have also gotten into some of my own gear, and helped friends find some setups of their own. They are on student budgets as well so we got to play around with some different gear combos to maximize their fishing opportunities from minimal gear.

Fishing doesn’t have to cost a hand and a foot to get some good action. But before getting started you’ll have to narrow down what kind of fishing you’ll be doing most. I live on an island so it could be a 50/50 choice between freshwater and saltwater fishing. For the purposes of this post I’ll give some ideas for budget friendly gear setups for freshwater. I’ll write a budget friendly saltwater post at a later date. I do realize that some of this gear isn’t the highest quality, but it’s functional, and for going out to the lakes on a Saturday morning it’ll get the job done.

If you’re getting into freshwater you’ll want a rod at about 6-7 feet with a medium action. My rods that I use the most are 6’6”. Perfect length for fishing off shore, out of the boat, and there isn’t  too much length that it’s hard to handle, walk with, or store in the vehicle and boat. Also, I recommend a spinning reel. I swear by spinning reels! I have one I’ve used on the lake for fishing trout and bass, and on the river for small salmon or trout. One I’d recommend that will hold up for a while but is a good combo to get you into the sport is this one by Shakespeare, Shakespeare Medium Action Ugly Stik Bigwater Combo (6-Feet 6-Inch).

After you have your rod and reel you’ll want some line, so basic 6-8lb mono will work great! you can get this online,Berkley Trilene Monofilament, or your local fishing/outdoors shop will easily have lots of this. If you go to your local store and get them to put it on your reel, they’ll just charge you for the amount they load on your reel.

For lures, baits and options to get them fish:

• 3/4 oz egg weight –> swivel –> 2-5 feet of leader –> size 8 or 10 –> 2-3 Berkley PowerBait, you want the hook to be fully covered and float up from egg weight. Gear total: approx $15 (this will give you a number of setups as multiple hooks, swivels, weights come in their packages normally. 

• Bass: offset hooks, worms (can dig up some free ones 😉 ), or plastic ones like Berkley Floating Trout Worm , work great as well on a wacky rig, just hook and worm (easy peasy!). Gear total: approx $10 depending on worm or lure selection

• Trout/small salmon: Spoons! lots of spoons, all kinds of spoons! My top recommendation if you want to invest a bit more into them, check out Gibbs Delta. Not only are they a brand i’ve used my whole life, they are Canadian made and local to me. Amazing people and company to support that make some awesome fishing gear! Their croc spoons are a must for every tackle box. You can troll them, cast and retrieve, jig, it all works!

Hope these few gear ideas will help get you started if you’re looking for an easy beginner setup thats cost friendly.

Happy Fishing!

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