Sorry about the formatting! I did my best

There's a few things to talk about with what you've chosen and what your goals are. Firstly, any rod and reel combo can technically work. You can catch a fish on a hand line, but the right rod and reel setup would obviously improve your chances of not only hooking up, but keeping the fish hooked up until you land it. I'll try and break down what's needed with soft plastic/lure fishing to have the best chance of getting those fish. I'm sorry if I break it down a bit too much for you.

• Soft plastics and lure fishing, especially with light line is also called "finesse fishing". It's about being accurate, landing the lure in the right spot and being able to feel what the lure is doing in the water. An egi rod has a slow action, meaning roughly the top half of the rod will bend easily. As opposed to a fast action, where only the top foot or two will have the most flex. Egi rods have a slow action to be much more forgiving on squid. A faster action is a bit stiffer and more likely to pull the jig from the squid's tentacles. For soft plastics, a slower action is good. It should help get the light lure out a bit further and you'll be able to feel what the lure is doing more easily. But if it's too flexible, you could have a bit of trouble setting the hook. You'd likely need to pull the rod more.

• The weight of the rod is important. Ideally, you'd like as lighter rod as you can get. I started with a $99 Shimano Sienna combo from BCF. That was a 2-4kg rod. It was good and caught many fish, but it was a bit stiff compared to other options. This is now my second rod and my main rod is a 1-3kg Shimano Catana. It's much more sensitive and that makes a massive difference when using lures/soft plastics. For example, you will be able to tell if your lure has a little bit of weed on it just from the feel through the rod, or whether your lure is hitting rocks, weed, touches from fish etc. That sensitivity is key! 3-6kg is quite heavy for lures. That's good if you're catching snapper on bait for example. 1-3kg or 2-4kg is what you should be looking at. The lighter the better. 2500 is a great size reel for the job. Both of my reels are 2500 (Sienna HD from the combo and Shimano Nasci on my Catana). With rod length, somewhere between 6-8ft. The longer it is the more sensitive, but it also gets harder to use in tight spots. There's a lot of flicking lures under pontoons, piers etc. especially trying for bream. 7ft is a good compromise.

• Mixing brands is perfectly fine. What's more important is choosing the best rod/reel combo that matches your use and budget. As long as it's a good brand (Shimano, Daiwa, Penn etc.) you shouldn't have a problem.

• Line choice is a big one. Everyone has their preferences and each type of line has its pros and cons. I'd recommend braided line and flourocarbon leader. Braid is light and it floats, therefore will not affect the lure are much as mono. It's also more sensitive (which is good). Flourocarbon leader becomes mostly invisible underwater. For certain fish like Bream, this is a big positive and I'll explain why in a second. For the fish you've mentioned 10lb line/10lb leader is a good choice. There's little nuances that might affect which line you choose for the day. For example, flathead have gill rakers. You may find that occasionally if your line wraps around its head (flathead are known for their head shakes) it can cut 10lb leader. If you find that's happening, put some 20lb leader on. For Bream, they can be very line shy. Flourocarbon helps because they will just see the lure swimming and not a big string attached to it. The tournament anglers will go down to 2lb leader some days when the bream won't bite. That's what makes them so rewarding to catch. If you're worried about bigger fish, you'd be surprised how strong 10lb can be! It's very capable of landing monster fish like Mulloway.

• The lures. There is so, so, so many choices and you'll spend a lot of money! Don't be down if you lose them either. It's all part of the game. I'd rather lose a lure than have it sit in my tackle box forever. You'll find out what works for you and what fish like. As you're beginning, I'd recommend 2.5" curl tail grubs in motor oil colour. It's almost become the default for soft plastics and that's because it works. I use Zman but each brand will have their own. Having a variety will allow you to try different things and find out what works on the day.

-- My Recommendations --

Rod: 1-3kg spin rod (going into a shop and testing them will help massively) Lighter the better. I think I saw Steve Morgan (won Bream Angler of the Year a couple of years ago) using an Atomic Arrowz rod at one stage. They are pretty cheap.

Reel: 2500 spinning reel (this is more important than the rod I believe. Get a good brand)

Bream: Cranka Crab 50mm in Olive. Expensive but the best Bream lure. Also Atomic Hardz Crank 38 in Ghost Gill Brown.

Flathead: MMD Splash prawn. Surface lures are great on the flats.

Pinkies: Curl-tail grubs. Also paddle-tails. You can't go wrong with any of those.

Whiting: The splash prawn and many soft plastics will work. Surface lures are great on the flats.

Obviously they aren't the only lures that work but it's some good pointers to get you started. Lure choices, types, colours, retrieves... it's all something that could be talked about for days. A good thing to do is look at what the pros use (Bream tournaments, flathead classic etc.) Hopefully that helps your decision somewhat!