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I get this question a lot. Social media pages will lead you to believe that you will need a $1,000 set up in order to be successful at fishing. You will also hear stories of guys that caught a six foot shark using a generic, off-the-shelf fishing rod with 20lb test. There are hundreds of rods to choose from and hundreds of reels. Everyone has their opinion and knows what works best for them. You need to find what works best for you. I personally choose my fishing rods by how sturdy they are and if I think they can take a beating. My fishing rods bounce around in the Jeep and get smashed around pretty bad. I don't want to get to my fishing spot and have a bunch of broken eyelets. Here is the lineup of what I am currently using:
Bait Rod - 10ft "Big Game" Catfish rod. I will use any sturdy 10ft rod.
This is the rod that I use to catch bait for my bigger set-ups. I only use The Bait Rig leader with this rod and only target small fish (12" and under). This rod will also be able to reel in big drum and small sharks.
Casting Rods - Penn Squall 20s and 30s paired with 12 foot Ugly Sticks.
I use these casting rods for targeting fish over 12" long. I found that I can cast these 12 footers much easier than 15 footers and much further than 10 footers. I used to use the Penn 12ft rods but the eyelets kept breaking. I have completely switched all of my rods to the new Ugly Sticks because they use the solid, one piece, virtually unbreakable eyelets. I say virtually unbreakable but I still manage to find a way to break them. When you read the "What to bring to the beach section", you will see that I take electrical tape with me. When my eyelets break, I break them completely off and wrap that section of the rod with electrical tape to prevent my line from getting snagged on the disrupted finish section or any metal that I could not pull out.
Shark Rods - Avet 30's and 50's paired with custom rods
So, here is where I splurged. I only have three shark rods and I figured that I would break the bank with them. I ended up selling an Avet TRX 80 that I won in a FB raffle so I could purchase one of my custom rods. Another rod I won in a fishing tournament and I bought the last one. Art's Custom Rods is my go-to for custom rods. He uses the highest quality components and does a great job with the builds. Follow the Art's Custom Rods page on FB to see his awesome builds. I also really like the Avet 30's and 50's. My experience with other similar reels is limited because I've not used them. I started out using Penn 9/0's and Penn International 50s. I found that both the Penns and the Avets were easy to maintain, take apart and rebuild. Surprisingly, I found the Avets were easier.
All that said, and contrary to what you will be told on social media, I do not recommend that you go out and purchase an Avet 80 with a custom rod. Although these set ups can be pretty and they may get you the head nods from other sharkers, it is not necessary to drop that kind of cash. For years I used a $60 Penn 9/0 (bought off eBay) on a $70 6ft boat rod (bought at FTU) and caught a bunch of 4ft-6ft sharks. If you intend on targeting 10ft+ sharks then I do recommend the Avet 80, but I also don't recommend that you target 10ft sharks until you have enough experience and know-how to handle them and release them without killing them.