Reddit mentions of Tsunami Surf TSTSS 863H Spinning Kayak Travel Rod

I made an account just to help you with this. I did the same thing a couple years ago for a little over 6 months and finding fishing information was HARD. It might be a little bit easier now with the increased tourism in Nicaragua. First, like /u/norshore said you really have to ditch that 12lb test. When I went I had a similar travel rod that was my bait/sabiki rod. What you need to aim for in a travel rod is 3-4 pieces that is at least 9ft and can throw 3oz or a little more. You're going to have a ton of species to target and almost all can swallow 3oz plugs with no problem. For line I'd say look get 40-50lb braid and a reel that can hold about 300 yds of it. For the reel you want a reel with a long cast spool that can retrieve line at a MINIMUM of 35 inches per crank. The fish are fast and often the faster you can retrieve the more you catch. This is particularly true for rooster fish which will turn away from your lure if you can't speed up the retrieve. The two rod companies that come to mind are Albright and Tsunami (http://www.amazon.com/Tsunami-TSTSS-863H-Spinning-Travel/dp/B004ULSNH2) both are good budget options but there are tons of others you can find with a little searching. For reels the best that you can find is the Daiwa Emblem Pro-A 6000 that retrieves at 42" per crank and has the long cast spool I was talking about. Other cheaper options are the Penn Sargus 5000/6000 that retrieve at 37"-39" per crank but don't cast as well.

On to the fish, you'll have a lot of options depending on which beach you're on and what kind of bait is around. From the shore expect to catch (in order of frequency); rock grouper, jacks, mackerel, bonito (if you're going in the next few weeks), cubera snapper, snook, and roosterfish. Roosterfish are THE fish to be fishing for down there and the fight is incomparable to any other surf species. That being said, the other species are nothing to sneeze at.

For lures, bring LOTS of 2-3oz metals like kastmasters, deadly dicks, crippled herrings, hopkins, etc. Anything that is shiny, metal, and heavy with a hook can catch fish. For plugs, again, stay in the 2-3oz range and get lots of poppers (superstrike being the best). The poppers can be any type but the little neck poppers and pencil poppers cast the best. Also look into surface skipping lures like the Robert's Ranger or Surface Tension. These are rooster fish candy. Lastly for plugs get an assortment of plastic swim shads in sizes 1/2oz to 3oz and look at the Rapala Sub Walks. These work outstanding for snook especially when the surf is super heavy and there is tons of sea foam.

For your lighter 12lb outfit, you can bring some smaller 1/4oz - 3/4 oz metals, Berkley Gulps (swimming mullets and shrimp) and bass crankbaits (sebile magic swimmers, yo zuri crystal minnows and mag darters are winners). When things are slow, you can pick out a few of the rock grouper and other critters hiding in holes along rocky shore lines. Also, bring at least 10 sabiki rigs to catch bait. The beauty of having the 9ft rod is you can use it for multi-duty and it can double as a live/dead bait rod when you want to just drink rum on the beach and sit back and relax. You can find dead bait anywhere. Lots of restaurants will give you a few shrimp for free and the fisherman will gladly sell you a bloody piece of bonito to cut up for about $1.

Terminal tackle, Get yourself a few yards of 65lb fluorocarbon leader and a few 2ft steel leaders. Start with the fluorocarbon and move to the steel if you start getting a lot of bite offs. If you can find 100lb test swivels to make your life easier otherwise get used to tying good braid to fluorocarbon knots. Bring a few extra 2/0 hooks and sinkers for bottom fishing.

Lastly, if you get a chance to fish on a panga do it! You can actually troll with your 9ft rod and it'll hold up if your drag is set right. It sounds crazy but in a lot of places you'll be handline trolling unless you bring your rod. For trolling, oddly, the best lure hands down is the yo zuri crystal minnow (saltwater variant). It'll catch literally every fish out there and has the perfect swimming action. You also are at an advantage because sometimes fish will come to the surface and you can cast to them. Lots of times the panga captains will stop next to a large rock or on a reef and you can also bottom fish with your rod. Use 2oz - 3oz weights and 2/0 hooks with dropper loops. You'll catch a lot of trigger fish, scorpion fish, and snapper bottom fishing like that.

To finish off this wall of text, you're going to have an awesome trip and make sure to post pictures when you're done. I'll post some pictures from my trip of some species you can expect.

PM or just comment if you have any questions. I have some more info on specific spots, weather patterns, and lesser known surf spots depending on your skill level.

Tl;DR 12lb line is too light go bigger. Get a 9ft travel surf rod with 50lb braid and bring down as many lures as you can afford. Tons of nice fish to catch.

Edit: Had to get rid of forwarded links to get past spam filters.