With any type of Fishing you have a great selection of rods and reels to choose from. There is fishing rod and reel combo, which has the rod and reel altogether in one package. The other way is t0 buy the rod and reel as separate items to get the combination you want to use.
When you are looking at rods there will be a selection that will vary from ultra light action to heavy action. You would choose a ultra light action to light action rod if you were fishing for pan fish. The action that you choose is how sensitive the rod will be to your touch of feeling a fish bite on your best fishing lure. The rods will come in variety of lengths to use depending what you are fishing for. Also on the rod will be what weight of fishing lure it works best with and what pound fishing line will work best with this rod.
To choose a good reel to go with your rod some things to look at would be, how many ball bearings does the reel have. They will range from two ball bearing up to eight ball bearings. The more ball bearings that are in a reel it should operate smoother and last longer. Same as a rod different reels work better with different pound fishing line. So look to put a combination together that will work well with what you are going to be fishing for.
So enjoy you day on the water with your new fishing rod and reel. Look at amazon.com for a huge selection of fishing rods and reels to use with your best fishing lure and good luck.