Help w a kayak fishing rod / reel?

I’m gonna venture into the ocean soon.  My first quarry will be a halibut. 

I have bass fishing rods.  I want an ocean dedicated fishing combo.  One multi-tasking setup.  I’m hoping a rockfish rod and Hali rod can do double duty.   

I’m comfortable w a 7-footer. 

Shop suggest a Daiwa VIP 870(?). But they didn’t have one.  Reel?   Tranx 200?  300? 

Line is what?  50lb braid?

I am not familiar with the Diawa VIP 870. It’s a 7 foot 15-40 glass rod MSRP $120

I do own and use for both halibut and RF a Diawa Harrier X in 7 foot medium. MSRP is $130 It has served me very well and I highly recommend it if you are looking in that price range.

For the reel if you are looking at a tranx I would go 300 instead of 200. The internals of the 300 are larger and will handle heavy weights and big fish better than the 200. I do not own any tranx reels myself. I do own multiple okuma Komodo 300 reels. Similar to the tranx but with a clicker and stainless internal gearing.
 If you want low profile and are on a budget both kastking and piscifun offer 300 sized baitcasters at an entry level price.

If you aren’t tied to a low profile reel or a star drag an avet sxj is a great choice for a smaller lever drag conventional. The J is for jigging meaning it has a narrow spool so line is easier to lay. You don’t need a ton of line capacity in NorCal unless you are doing deep water RF out of a boat and are way offshore. The sxj is on my harrier rod.

Line wise I’ve settled onto 30lb braid. Berkely x9 in green. I feel like it cuts through the water well so I don’t get too much angle when fishing deep and it’s plenty strong for kayak fishing. I’ll usually put some sort of top shot on it. 20 or something feet of mono/flouro.

I started out with an ugly stick and a penn. Great stuff and indestructible. Nowadays the harrier/avet combo, a trevala s (now px series)/accurate tern combo and or a light spinner combo come with me for rockfish/halibut. The harrier/avet is the most versatile.

All that being said if you look around at used there are some good deals out there sometimes. Also lots of crappy deals.

If you are ever around Windsor and want to check out the combos just let me know. Also if you are a left handed reeler I have a couple of 300 sized baitcasters that I’ll part with for cheap.

That squidder is pretty awesome - will have to find a lefty version for myself one of these days.

I'm super happy with my Baymaster 180. I swapped in lefty parts, replaced the drag washers with HT100s, and put on a longer handle.  It really is a sweet little reel. I'd guess it makes around 10lbs of drag, and it is probably the smoothest drag out of all of my reels. I only built it last summer, and pulled up a couple 30" class ling cods in the weeks after the build.

Sweet reel my friend.  Old Penns will keep you fishing sometimes long after the nylons break down.

That squidder is pretty awesome - will have to find a lefty version for myself one of these days.

I'm super happy with my Baymaster 180. I swapped in lefty parts, replaced the drag washers with HT100s, and put on a longer handle.  It really is a sweet little reel. I'd guess it makes around 10lbs of drag, and it is probably the smoothest drag out of all of my reels. I only built it last summer, and pulled up a couple 30" class ling cods in the weeks after the build.

Sweet reel my friend.  Old Penns will keep you fishing sometimes long after the nylons break down.

Thanks! 

I love the Tranx serise, I use a 300 and 400 for halibut. I use a Shimano Travala 5' 6" on the kayak and a St. Croix, 7' inshore on the pier. I do like the shorter rod on the yak. I started by buying a cheaper rod/reel setup at first and pretty soon upgraded to the better rod/reel set up and keep the original set up for friends and as a back up. If cost is really a problem but you think you will fall in love with this hobby, I'd go for a better set up at first. The upgrades are worth it, Ron.

I am starting to explore using a spinning reel for rock fishing.  For me, it is just easier sometimes to have the spinning reel set up.  And the drag that these quality spinning reels produce is amazing.  I am using the Okuma Tesoro Saltwater Spinning Reel model TSR-4000XA with the Daiwa Saltiga Spinning Jigging Rod model SLTGJ70MS.  This is a 7 foot rod and performs really well for me.  I purchased both from Charkbait.com.  The Okuma TSR-4000 has 26 pounds of drag and 40 inches of retrieve per turn.

If you target deep water rockfish (50 fathom rule) check out the Daiwa STTLW30LCH line counter and level wind reel with 50 lb braid. It should work with your Daiwa 870 rod.

https://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=101198.0