Fish-Hawk.Net

hey guys not sure if anyone can lend some advice but im traveling to Hawaii in the upcoming month and i am planning on taking a travel rod and some tackle to fish off the rocks near the resort, will i damage my reel if from the salt water? should i take an old one off the shelf to use or would i be okay using one of my regular ones??

I fished off the east coast a couple years ago with various rigs. Just rinse the metal parts with tap water shortly after fishing and you'll be fine.

I have taken tackle to/from fresh to salt water frequently. Salt causes no major issues if you rinse off your gear after each trip. Of bigger concern in my experience is sand. Don't put your reel down in a sandy area unless you have to. I surf cast (with dedicated gear... Sealed spinning reels) each year and I have to strip down my reels and remove all the grease because as we all know.... Sand gets into everything. I actually had to toss a reel because of sand.

Rod

I should mention that when I said to rinse "each trip" I meant after each time you go fishing, or at least that day!

Don't forget to rinse the eyes on your rod. Most rods sold here the metal frame will start to corrode after salt water use.

Having just got back from a trip where I did exactly what you are planning - I would totally agree with the above about rinsing.

I would also add - bring tape! I snapped my rod on the first day (I think a sting-ray hit a small fish that i was reeling in). A bit of tape would have made fishing the rest of the week much easier, instead I had to kinda wedge the pieces together!

Finally - check places like Facebook to see if there are any local fishing groups. Sometimes you can find good information about where to go and even where to meet people while shore fishing. I found a group for example (Abu Dhabi shore fishing) on Facebook and was able to meet up with a group of 3 guys casually fishing off a bridge a 5 minute walk from my hotel. Was great to share stories, learn about the different kinds of fish, etc. Funny thing was, my "strange" lures (mostly bass type top-water baits) ended up working better than theirs, probably because the fish had seen their bait hundreds of times before.