To choose equipment, I recommend matching it all by going backwards from the targeted and likely fish considering also the fishing styles and techniques you prefer and your personality regarding desired challenge level and your patients with either fighting a fish on low pound test with someone to manage a pier net or if you prefer to simply horse it in.
That helps determine the pounds test of line you choose. Decide if you want to cast lures or use a float or one of many techniques of bait fishing. If casting, pick lures and lure weights that match the targeted fish and match the line test strength and lure weight to the rod you select for it. Determine if you want enough extra line to fight a fish of a size that will necessarily take line. Then pick your reel that will spool that much line of the pound test you will be using considering choosing braid will allow you to go smaller and lighter if the drag is sufficiently high. All of that gets you to be able to narrow down reel choices to a list with among them various levels of quality and price. Then decide on that.
I have a large variety of rods, reels, line and lures. That way I can alter what I'm using depending upon what's biting and what I choose to target and how to best fish it at the moment. I've recently purchased a large variety of lures in quite a range of lure weights. I find by practicing with my many rods and reels that it's most important to match the lure weight to the rod for ease of casting and distance.
Then I match the reel to the line also considering desired drag. Some of my lightweight spinning reels are of exceptional quality that gives me the rare combination of lightweight with high drag and because they are small, I match them with braid when fishing expensive lures. But, when fishing soft plastics or light Blue Fox lures or similar, I take a chance with mono filament line. I'm often capable of quick line changes by having extra spools already spooled with different lines or even quicker by having another complete rod and reel already set up and ready to fish differently as circumstances change moment to moment. Moments of fishing opportunity can change fast and be short lasting, so being ready to go with an appropriate change maximizes the closing window of opportunity.
Basically, it's matching up many things for compatibility. If you are going to have just one rod and reel, then consider all of the types of fishing you might want to do and choose what might not be optimal for just one, but maximally versatile for all or what will work for most.
My equipment collection continues with a latest focus on surf fishing. Though I have no specific coast or date in mind, I have accumulated weeks of vacation time to go to a coast for fishing and I've added appropriate reels and line and lures to my collection for both surf fishing and ocean pier fishing. Currently, I'm practicing long distance casting with my new equipment in preparation for cast and retrieve with lures which makes fishing athletic and that's also desired. I enjoy learning new styles of fishing.
Until then, I might combine continued distance casting with shore fishing Utah reservoirs. Though odd, the attractions of that to me is developing skill with the new equipment to be proficient when I vacation to a coast while fanning out and covering more water faster. For that, the 40 inches per turn line retrieve rate of my new Penn Clash CLA 8000 reels appealed to me. I can present to targeted water from considerable distance yet retrieve it fast once out of that zone to be quickly ready for my next cast. In choosing this reel, I selected it for durability and quite lightweight for a huge line capacity, 30 pound drag and quick line retrieve.
I also have seen boils just out of my casting range. They had me running through trees to get closer to cast only to diminish and start again closer to where I was. With my new focus on distance casting, I'll be able to stand in one spot and cast past the boils as quick as they occur and retrieve a large swim bait through the boil. I want to test a theory that the dominant big fish in a reservoir will be highly aggressive to smaller fish challanging the territory of it's bait ball that it rounded up. I also want to give that a shot from shore.
