Getting the right gear for light tackle fishing is critical. Without the proper setup, you’ll be missing the true feelings of light tackle fishing. You’ll need a rod with a strong backbone to support the fast action tip and the stress on the line. When you see those photos of fishermen using light rods and reels with a huge bend in the rod, they’re most likely using light tackle. Light tackle varies based on the application, so it can be difficult for anglers to choose a light setup that’s right for the application. In this article, we’ll go over light tackle rods, reels, line, leader, and lures for inshore fishing in saltwater.
Inshore Light Tackle Setup
Inshore fishing typically involves casting, jigging, and even trolling. A lot of times inshore fishing is done from a flats boat, bay boat, kayak, paddleboard, or wading. Inshore waters are still saltwater, so you’ll need corrosion resistant options. Let’s go over some light tackle fishing setups at 3 different price points: budget friendly, midrange, and high end.
Budget Friendly Option: Total Cost $269
For the Inshore Light Tackle budget friendly option, here is a recommended setup, along with an explanation about what makes these pieces a good choice.
Rod: TD SOL Inshore Spinning Rod by Daiwa, Model #TDSOL70MLFS
- Length: 7’
- Power: Medium Light
- Action: Fast
- Line rating: 8-17 lb
- Lure rating: 3/16-3/4 oz
- Price: $120
Light lures and line are the nature of light tackle fishing. The shorter rod length will give you a lightweight setup for casting and jigging for hours, without giving you the fatigue. Usually a longer length rod will give you more leverage to get around structure or cover, but it would be unusual to use light tackle in those conditions. Here we are recommending a shorter length rod at 7’ to get you just enough leverage to fight the fish, without any added weight. The TD SOL Inshore Spinning Rod by Daiwa has medium light power, and fast action. The medium light power gives it a strong enough backbone, and the fast action gives it the best sensitivity you’ll need to feel a lighter bite on a lighter lure. The fast action also gives you better ability to finesse the lure the way you want to. The line rating is 8-17 lbs, so we’d use it with 10 lb PowerPro braid as a mainline and a 10 lb Seaguar fluorocarbon leader line. The rod costs about $120 which puts it in the lower pricing tier of rods on the market.
Reel: Fierce III Spinning Reel by Penn, Model #FRCIII2000
- Line capacity: 180 yds of 10 lb braid
- Crank rate: 30 in/turn
- Weight: 9.5 oz
- Gear Ratio: 6.2:1
- Max drag: 10 lbs
- Price: $85
We could have chosen the size 1000 and used it with 110 yds of 10 lb braid since its lighter (7.8 oz), but the retrieve rate is much slower, at 22 inches per turn. We’ll take the extra weight to save on the retrieve fatigue as the 2000 seems to be a more versatile reel that you could also use with heavier line. This makes it also an option to use when surf fishing. The drag system was updated between the Fierce II and Fierce III and is now much smoother than it was. Drag is critically important to fighting a fish with light tackle. You’ll use the drag a lot as you’re wearing out a large fish whose strength exceeds the breaking strength of your line. The drag will let line out when the fish makes quick direction or speed changes, and you’ll reel in quickly on the slack. When choosing a reel, you’ll want to be sure that the drag can be set to about 30% of the line strength with room to increase or decrease it. Considering the specs, durability, and cost of the reel, the Fierce III is a great value for the money.
Main Line: PowerPro Braided Spectra Fiber in Moss Green, Model #10-0300
- Spool: 300 yd
- Line strength: 10 lbs
- Diameter: 0.006 inch
- Cost: $30
For light tackle fishing inshore, we’d recommend filling your reel with 10lb braid. I always go with a good PowerPro braid, like this one. PowerPro is well regarded in the industry for its strength and ability to tie and hold knots. Although its not necessarily the cheapest braid on the market, for light line fishing we’re going to recommend a high quality main line since the line does so much of the work. A breakoff with PowerPro is very rare as long as you recognize that braided line should be replaced periodically depending on how frequently you fish with it. For most anglers, an annual replacement frequency will do.
Leader line: Seaguar InvizX Fluorocarbon Fishing line, Model # 08VZ200
- Spool: 200 yd
- Line strength: 8 lbs
- Diameter: 0.009 inch
- Color: Clear
- Cost: $25
Typically, when finesse fishing, your leader line will be lower in strength than your main line. Here we opted for an 8 lb line strength which is smaller than the main line, but not so weak that it’ll break when a bigger fish hits it. We want a large fish to be able to strike your lure and swim off and let the reel drag do the work. If you were to choose a leader too weak, the line would break before your drag would kick in. Fluorocarbon is a great leader line choice since its essentially invisible in the water and sinks well. Just don’t use it with a topwater lure since fluorocarbon is heavy and will cause the front of your topwater to pull down.
Lure: Yo-Zuri 3D Inshore Fingerling, Model #R1409
- Weight: ¼ oz
- Color: Mullet
- Cost: $9
When choosing a lure, you’ll need to stay within the lure rating range of the rod for optimum performance. The rod we chose had a lure rating range of 1/16-5/16 oz, so the ¼ oz weight of the crankbait chosen fits the bill. This lure by Yo-Zuri is a shallow diver so its best for use in shallow waters, such as near mangrove islands or on flats. The color choice is somewhat subjective. I usually choose natural colors like white or silver in clear water, and gold colors in muddy waters. This lure is designed with saltwater in mind and has corrosion resistant terminal tackle.
When working with this finesse rig, you can either do a straight retrieve, or add in some twitching. On a straight retrieve, this lure will wobble erratically to mimic a fleeing baitfish. With twitches added in, it’ll also dart. This bait will work great inshore for targeting snook and redfish. To read more about the Yo-Zuri 3D Inshore Fingerling, read our article Surf Fishing Lures.
Midrange Price Point: Total Cost $500
Rod: Avid Series Inshore Spinning Rod by St Croix, Model #VIS70MLF
- Length: 7′
- Power: Medium Light
- Action: Fast
- Line rating: 6-12 lb
- Lure rating: 1/8-1/2 oz
- Rod Weight: 4.0 oz
- Price: $250
Weighing in at 4.0 oz, this is a very lightweight 7’ saltwater rod. The coloring is a great seafoam color and the guides are all made of corrosion resistant materials. A great aspect of St Croix rods is the fact that they’re made in the USA. This particular rod has been around for a while. It won the Best in Show Saltwater Rod at the 2015 ICAST show, and the customer reviews on the product are great across the board. It has great weight and sensitivity characteristics for light tackle fishing. You’ll need to keep the lure lightweight to stay within the design parameters, but that’ll be easy to do since light lures are fairly easy to find.
Reel: Stradic FL 2500 by Shimano, Model #ST2500HGFL
- Line capacity: 150 yds of 10 lb braid
- Crank rate: 35 in/turn
- Weight: 7.9 oz
- Gear Ratio: 6.0:1
- Max drag: 19.8 lbs
- Price: $200
This reel has a nice shallow spool, perfect for light line fishing. If you compare the 10 lb braid line capacity of the Stradic (150 yds) to the 10 lb braid line capacity of the Penn Fierce III (180 yds), it stores 30 yards less. This is a positive when light line fishing because it allows you to drop the strength of the line more without having to add too much cost to spooling up the reel full of braid.
You can also see that spending more money on a reel will also give you better gear ratio, which allows you to take in more line with each turn. This is a big benefit when light line fishing as it could help decrease the fight time with a fish. When you’re playing a fish, the drag will let the line out of the reel, and on the slack you’ll need to quickly retrieve the line and with this reel, you’ll get an extra 5 inches of line pulled in with each crank.
The Shimano Stradic is also superior in terms of weight. It's over an ounce lighter than the Penn Fierce III, and the difference will be even greater when both are fully spooled up with braided line since the Stradic has a shallower spool. You can see how spending more money will get you better specs on reels in particular.
Main Line: PowerPro Braided Spectra Fiber in Moss Green, Model #0150MG 10 lb
- Spool: 150 yd
- Line strength: 10 lbs
- Diameter: 0.006 inch
- Cost: $17
We’re still recommending the same braided main line as PowerPro braid has a great reputation. You’ll notice the cost is lower here because we only need 150 yards to fill up the shallow Stradic 2500 spool.
Leader line: Seaguar InvizX Fluorocarbon Fishing line, Model # 08VZ200
- Spool: 200 yd
- Line strength: 8 lbs
- Diameter: 0.009 inch
- Color: Clear
- Cost: $25
Since we’re assuming the same application of inshore fishing between the budget friendly and the midrange option, an 8 lb fluorocarbon leader is still the way to go. If you're interested in reading more about types of leader line and their uses, read our article on it here.
Lure: Mustad Inshore Darter Jig Head Lures Model #SSD786-1/4 with Zman DieZel MinnowZ Swimbaits Model #DMIN-364PK5
- Length: 4 in (swimbait)
- Weight: 1/4 oz (jig head)
- Color: Pearl & Slam Shady
- Cost: $3.49 for 4 pack of jig heads, $4.49 for 5 pack swimbaits
Here we’re showing another option for the lightweight lure. We’re still keeping the lure weight between the range of lure rating of the rod, but this time we’re showing it with a jig head and swimbaits. Jig heads with swim baits are great for slow rolling presentations.
High End Price Point: Total Cost $1350
Rod: IMX-Pro Blue Saltwater Spinning Rod by G Loomis, Model #IMX-PRO 842S XF
- Length: 7’
- Power: Medium Light
- Action: Extra Fast
- Line rating: 10-30 lb
- Lure rating: undefined
- Price: $390
The G Loomis IMX-Pro series rods were introduced at ICAST in 2019. They offer both spinning and casting options, but we prefer spinning for light tackle inshore fishing. The rod is built with a Fuji rod seat and cork handles. The guides are corrosion resistant to handle the toughest environments. The microtaper technology that G Loomis developed allows this rod to improve its lightweight while maintaining its performance. The microtaper technology essentially uses more material to beef up stress points on the rod and less material everywhere else. G Loomis is regarded as a luxury brand of fishing gear and the IMX-Pro Blue Spinning rod does not disappoint.
Reel: Stella XGC 4000 by Shimano, Model #STLSW4000XGC
- Line capacity: 230 yards of 15 lb braid
- Crank rate: 40 in/crank
- Weight: 12.5 oz
- Gear Ratio: 6.2:1
- Max drag: 24 lb
- Price $900
The Shimano Stella is a top notch reel. Shimano makes some of the smoothest and strongest reels, and the Stella excels when it comes to retrieve rate and smoothness. For use inshore with light tackle, the 4000 size is best. The XG model in particular has a high gear ratio to improve the crank rate. You can see the 40 in/crank outperforms any other reel we’ve recommended in this article. It is a larger size reel though, so you’ll need to fill it with quite a bit of main line when light line fishing. This isn’t the lightest setup, but the smoothness helps decrease the fatigue. Use this reel with casting lures and you’ve got a winning combination.
Main Line: PowerPro Braided Spectra Fiber in Moss Green, Model #15-0300MG
- Spool: 300 yd
- Line strength: 15 lbs
- Diameter: 0.008 inch
- Cost: $30
With this setup, we opted for 15 lb braid as it fits within the design parameters of the rod and reel better. PowerPro is still the recommended brand.
Leader line: Seaguar InvizX Fluorocarbon Fishing line, Model # 12VZ200
- Spool: 200 yd
- Line strength: 12 lbs
- Diameter: 0.011 inch
- Color: Clear
- Cost: $25
Fluorocarbon still takes the cake when talking about leader line because of its invisible properties. The only time we recommend using a monofilament leader is when you’re fishing around structure or heavy cover. The 12 lbs leader line strength is recommended here because its slightly less than our main line with strength of 15 lbs.
Lure: Acme Kastmaster with Bucktail Teaser Model #SW101
- Weight: ¼ oz
- Color: Chrome
- Cost: $5
Because our reel has such a high retrieve rate, we opted for a casting spoon here. The Acme Kastmaster is one of my favorites. I almost never strike out when I’m throwing one of these. More likely what happens is, it gets bit off and I have to buy another one. The chrome color works great in clear water and gold when the water is murky. The ¼ oz will work, but if you feel like you want to go a little heavier, move up to the 3/8 oz. Chances are, you’ve got both sizes in your tackle box already. Work this spoon by doing a quick retrieve and it’ll make a wild action. You can skip the swivel on this spoon as its more likely to wobble than twist. While you’re considering the Acme Kastmaster, watch our YouTube video on it below.
I hope this article helps you step into light tackle fishing inshore. Check out our article on Light Tackle Fishing – Outfish Your Friends with This Skill to learn more about the art of light tackle fishing. Tight lines, y'all!
