After you have been out a few times with a friend or person you know is into fishing and the “spark” has been charged up after feeling a fish bite, you look into it more with respect to getting some starter gear for yourself.
A rod and reel can cost you as low as $15 to $25 dollars(which includes fishing line), along with some hooks, sinkers a total start up investment on gear is still under $40.
Granted you will not have top notch gear to fight all species of fish but trust me when I say you don’t need that to catch a fish, even a big fish !
Many years ago(man I am getting old!) in my early fishing days I caught a pretty darm big pike on a very basic abu garcia rod/reel, but landing that fish took patience not an expensive setup.