Need help chosing rod

[gwpolo5]

Hey guys,
I got a winter jacket from cabella's as a christmas present, but as I already have one that does the job I figured I would return the jacket and use the store credit to pick up a new rod and reel. I live in NYC now, so i don't get to fish very often, but whenever I take a trip back to miami to visit family I can't help but spend all my time with a rod in hand.
I have a big surf spinning rod with 40# test on it and a smaller, cheap spinning rod that does a surprisingly decent job catching snapper and other small fish; Neither of which are made very well. I'm not really sure what type of rod/reel would really be best for me. My usual spots are on key biscayne, miami beach and other ninja spots but my favorite is going down to the keys and fishing the bridges. I'm stuck between getting a quality small spinner or conventional (my first) to target things that are a bit bigger.

I'll have a bit under $300 in store credit

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[PhishingPhanatic]

If you want a small spinner, look at the Shimano Saragosa, either 3000 or 4000 size, and a Star Stellar Lite rod, should set you back just around $300 for the combo.

If you want to go conventional, I'd look at a Daiwa Saltist 40 or 50 paired to a 8-9 foot Star Delux (you may have a hard time finding this rod from Cabelas), that is a great setup for the Keys bridges, it can handle everything from permit, muttons, tarpon, small sharks, etc.

[gwpolo5]

Thanks for the reply.
I'm torn between getting the conventional or the spinner because although I mainly target smaller fish, I would hate to be in a situation with the big ones biting and not having proper gear. I live in NYC and only get to fish a few times a year in FL.

[snapper slayer]

I would suggest a penn spinfisher 650 all metal reel and a 9 foot surf rod. You can get a pretty good reel (penn sargus) for only 80 or 90 bucks so like 150-200 for the combo and get 2 combos.

[snapper slayer]

set it up with 30 or 40 pound power pro

[s3rmadrat]

My cousin has a Sargus 6000, very nice reel, smooth retrieve, handled a 25lb snook pretty well.

[gwpolo5]

I've tried to go with braid before, and it was a disaster; I spent way too much time re rigging my line after getting cut off.

Thanks again for all the input guys, and I think I am going to go with buying two rods. I figured because I don't fish often it would be best to get each type of reel/rod so that I can make the best out of my limited trips. I'm going to do a little more research on specific combos and will take all of your feedback into consideration.

[gwpolo5]

Thanks for all the help guys, it is really nice how helpful and receptive the people on this forum are. I ended up getting 2 rods so that I can make the most out of my limited number of fishing trips. I got a penn sargus combo and a shimano tld lever drag combo and can't wait to try them out. I'm making a trip down to miami in the middle of February and hopefully the fishing picks up by then.

Thanks again for the help