Help please. Plan on going halibut fishing for the first time this year. Hopefully I'll go a few times per year. I don't want to invest a fortune, but at the same time I want the thing to last. Can I find a decent combination for $100? $200? Suggestions?

You can find a good quality rod and reel set up backed with 80lb tuff-line for around $250.00 to $300.00.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE
If your only gonna go once or twice a year you may want to go on a charter????.Just a thought,I
don't know if you have your own boat or not??.

I bought my rod used at a sporting goods store. Costed $30 since we knew the owner and he was going out of business. Excellent rod and I've landed 6 fish over 100lbs and lost several (due to people who can't gaff)200+. My reel is a large pen 4/0 with belt clips and clamps to hold it on the rod. I figure I could easily get 2 or 3 times what I paid for it. Look around at pawn shops or garage sales if you don't need new gear. Halibut gear doesn't need to be pretty. Just tough.

The line is the most important component. A big ol Penn Senator or Super Mariner(w/o level-wind) and cheap broom stick rod with roller tip will work for about $125. But you have to use tuf line or kevlar or similar to fish effectively . Dacron is too fat and mono is too stretchy.

A penn 4/0 senator (113H) with 50lb dacron(cheap and effective) or 80-100lb tuf line or another super line. If you buy a newer 113H that has an aluminum spool, spend lots of time washing it out after each trip, the captain of our charter boat spent an entire winter cleaning and repairing 50 113's that had been eaten by salt. Never had this problem with the older 114H reals with the stainless spools. Roller tips have their place, but the line slipping down between the roller and the rest of the tip is a major concern. Most people in my area go exclusively with the ceramic insert tips, there's a chance that a line will eventually groove one of these tips, but that's many years down the line, and i'd much rather take that chance than have the line slip off a roller and break off a big fish(has happened more than once). If you plan on using circle hooks, bite detection is not too major of a concern because you're not going for a quick hookset anyways, so a cheap rod like ugly stick that has a lifetime warranty is good route. E-bay and garage sales have lots of this equipment. Okuma rods and reels also have their place, and are relatively cheap for some of the higher end lever drage and andonized reels.

Good luck
david

A second nod to the broomstick theory.

Any rod 6-7 feet long rated somewhere around 20-60 lbs. will do the trick. Roller guides on at least tip are also nice.

You can pick up a Penn 9M reel for around $50 bucks.

Stick to one of the superbraids for line. Dacron was the standby before superbraids, but its size is a hindrance when fishing in any current, or wind. It also floats, so it's less sensitive when you go deeper than 200 feet.