u/machining_delirium

Hello I’m looking at getting a bait caster set up for salt water. For reels I’m looking at 300 and 400 series Shimano and Daiwa Reels. For rods I’m looking at Shimano inshore casting rods.

I went to a tackle shop the other day and saw two rods I saw the Shimano Saguaro Casting Saguaro 70 MH CST B and the Shimano Teramar Ne Casting TERAMAR NE 76 MH CST B which is what the employee recommended. He also told me the Saguaro Rod was a Conventional rod not a baitcaster rod because it didn’t have the trigger.

I went on Shimanos website and looked at their Teramar collection and a lot of the rods labeled as West Coast Casting didn’t have triggers including the Saguaro Casting rod which leads to my question.

Do casting rods have to have triggers or will those Shimano rods work as baitcasters?

I have the Spinning reel version of the saguaro and it works very well for my purposes so if I’m able to use the Saguaro casting rod as a baitcaster I’m gonna buy that rod get a Daiwa Lexa or a Shimano reel and then upgrade the rod to a Teramar down the line.

TLDR Do baitcasters have to have a trigger or will any rod labeled as casting be fine; what makes a conventional different if it’s not just the lack of trigger?

Hello, I recently started fishing again and have been using a spinning rod for all my life. Recently I’ve gone on my first fishing charters and have learned new fishing methods and learned a lot about fishing gear and have gotten interested in using baitcasters so I am turning to you for advice. I would like to have a fresh water and salt water set up and would like to have a set up thats budget friendly and well rounded that each set up does well enough in most scenarios for their respective water types.

My set up currently is a Shimano Saguaro 7’ Medium Heavy Fast action 20-30 lbs line 20-50 power pro boat rod and a Penn Wrath II 5000 spinning spooled up with 300 yards of 30 lbs braided Berkley Trilene with a fluorocarbon top shot. On the charters I’ve been fishing with dropper loops with 3-8 oz weights dead bait and live bait . I would like for my salt water setup to have the same line, weight, action, and be able to handle the same weights and ideally still do fine enough in most salt water scenarios.

For fresh water ideally I’d like to have 30lbs braid with top shot regardless but don’t know much about what I would want for my set up past that besides just something that’s gonna be reliable and budget friendly.

I don’t need top of the line gear I just want gear that’s gonna last me without breaking the bank and that will last me and I can upgrade as needed. Personally I think having a solid reliable reel and an okish rod is preferable to having a really good rod and an okish reel.

Thanks, the last thing I’ll ask for what tackle, lures, weights etc do you think are mandatory. Im talking about top 3 you cant have anything else.