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Congrats! It is an awesome hobby.
This is my typical advice for those starting out:
This is no longer a solitary sport. You will often have someone else, often a couple of others, fishing on your boat. Family, friends, etc. Sometimes they will have their own gear, but sometimes you will have to provide.
A great way to start out is 4 spinning and 4 conventional rigs. this will cover your bases.
Conventional- I would get a couple of 20lb and a couple of 30 lb set ups. 6 or 6.5 ft. Then you are covered for trolling for stripers/blues & Bottom fish (fluke, sea bass, scup, tog.)
Spinning - I would get a couple of 4500 and a couple of 6500 class setups. 6.5 or 7ft. This covers you for plugging, eeling, pogie snagging, and run & gun for blues/stripers/albies/bonito
That is just rod & reel. Then you need tackle.
i would get a big spool of 30 or 50 lb braid and spool all the reels with it.
Then get yourself small (25yd?) spools of 20,30,40&50lb test flourocarbon line for leaders.
Next- swivels, same deal, a couple of sizes, but the nice ones. packs of 25. clips too. i like the paperclip style like breakaway. the small and the large. never have too many.
oh, btw, you are going to need plano boxes to store all this sh1t, and a boat tackle bag to carry them in. maybe your boat has a tackle center to store the most used stuff. that is the best.
Next - hooks. I use 2/0, 3/0, 5/0 and 7/0. I like the gamakatsu octopus. buy a 25pk of each. and maybe a few 9/0 for livelining big pogies.
OK, on to lead. You should get about 6-8 pcs minimum of 1oz-8oz. on each ounce increment. you will find what you go through & restock. you could probalby skip 7oz, we seem to rarely use them. If you plan to do a lot of bottom fishing deep, you will need some 10oz and 12 oz too.
On to lures.
Jigs- I like the spro bucktails. eveyone has their favorites. I would fill a tray from 1/2 oz to 8 oz. various colors. you can never have too many, they are super versatile. Also, when albie season comes you are going to want some of those epoxy jigs and ablie snax.
Tin- crippled herring from 1 oz to 6 oz. deadly #^&#^&#^&#^& in a few sizes. Point Jude assorted, especially Pojee. A couple castmasters won't hurt either. others too, hopkins, acme, etc........
Plugs- oh boy. most of us have too many. You will need a some topwater - poppers & spooks, some swimmers, def need some minnow types. and many others. sky is the limit here. i love needles in the surf, but i find myself rarely using them from boat.
Trolling- when you start out, this can be the most effective way to consistently catch SOMETHING (other than baitfishing). Get a couple of tubes for tube & worm and a couple of umbrella style rigs. You can also troll plugs, but that is a little more of an art.
Net- get one. i don't have much advice. a net is a net, but it should be big enough for a large bass.
I am assuming you have a fillet knife. you should always have a bait knife on the boat, good pliers are critical. Keep in mind sun protection. You will do a lot more daytime fishing on the boat. Not crazy amounts of high-noon, but certainly more than from shore, as your bottom fishing opportunity is so great. I think good high end polarized sun-glasses are one of the most critical tools for a boat. I wouldn't leave home without them. I've never worn one of those buffs, but this may be the year.
ummm- what else. that is what comes to mind as "MUST HAVE" for starting off a fun season of boat fishing in southern new england.
Next winter you can start gearing up for tuna....
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