First you need to know where you going to be fishing and what type of fishing you are going to be doing. There's baitcasting,spinning,fly fishing. Most people use baitcasters but spinning works great too. Personally I use a medium light rod 6-12 lb and 12lb braid on my baitcaster. I throw jigs,spinnerbaits,topwater,senkos,spinners. For size of bass you can find some places with big bass , I mostly catch 1-2 lb bass so I don't need heavy rod and line. Try googling bass for beginners. And decide whether your fishing baitcaster or spinning.