The best fishing gear upgrades for you depend on the type of fishing you are engaged in, your skill level, and your budget. When you start out as a fisherman, it really does make sense to spend as little as possible while still making sure you get usable equipment. Honestly, there are so many choices available for cheap but perfectly decent equipment that paying any more than necessary is simply wasting money. Take time out to make sure that the equipment you are buying is suitable for your type of fishing, but spend too much too soon.

Fishing line
When you are just starting out, you should keep expenses down, but if there is one area where it is worth spending a bit more money, it is on the fishing line itself. A good quality line can be perfectly usable even with a cheaper rod or reel. By the same token, when you gain more experience and are ready to upgrade, an upgrade to a better quality line would be a great place to start. Not only does a better line lessen the chances of a broken line costing you a prime catch, it also makes the casting of the line more accurate, and it makes you more likely to achieve the requisite distance.

Spinning Reel
As a beginner fisherman, you will benefit greatly from using the relatively new spin cast reel technology. Spin cast reels have only been available for just over fifty years, compared with the century or more that spinning and centerpin reels have been available. Although these older technologies have gone through many evolutions, they are still prone to either backlash or line maintenance problems. A beginner will be better advised to use a spin cast reel, even though this inevitably means some sacrifice in terms of casting distance. If the fisherman takes to the sport, changing to a spinning reel can be one of the best fishing gear upgrades.

Once a new fisherman has been active for around a year or so, he can decide whether to upgrade to a spinning reel. A spinning reel has the disadvantage of potential line problems, but if a sufficient skill level has been developed to overcome this, then the reel will be easier to manage and control of the line will be greater. The extra distance gained should be noticeable. In recent decades, there has been a move away from the spin cast technology, although it still represents the best choice for a beginner.

Specialized Reel
If you have started out as a beginner with a versatile medium weight rod, you can upgrade by buying another rod for more specialized situations. While it should never be necessary to change the original rod, provided it was a wise choice, you will definitely notice the benefit of an additional rod if you are going to try a form of fishing which really needs a light or heavy rod. If versatility is something which appeals to you, moving from one rod to a choice of rods will be one of your best fishing gear upgrades.

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