I've been interested in starting to give fishing a shot to add to my arsenal of survival skills and have been reading up on it recently.  Specifically it would be fishing locally in the western PA area for some edible freshwater fish.  I haven't bought anything yet, but xmas is coming up and my siblings want to know what I want.  So is there some freshwater fishing starter kit out there on Amazon or anything that someone here could recommend?  

Not looking for anything crazy, just something under $80 or so that I could fish with it and decide if I want to keep going and invest in something better while keeping it as a backup, or say screw it and let it collect dust without a guilt complex over the wasted money.  

My suggestions:

Thanks for the recommendation.  Would that ultra light be enough for trout and catfish?

Yessir. I've caught fish up to about 7 lbs with it.

 

M-80s and a net.

I would not reccomend using an ultra light for catfish. a medium would be better but you could make do with light

What are you fishing for? A nice catfish rig would be a Medium Heavy Rippin Lips rod. Pair it with a round baitcaster (Pinnacle Vision) and you'll be set. Free shipping on Amazon. They also have the Medium for ponds. I use the M/H and H with some Ming Yang reels and haven't got any problems.

For other aquatic critters, a Light (panfish) or Medium (bass) rod with a spinning reel will do. Just remember if you hook a little monster with light tackle, adjust your drag so you won't loose it.

If you get ice thick enough to walk on,  a Lazer hand auger, some ice jigs & an ice rod would come in handy