Although buying online is convenient, I would much rather buy from a fly shop. If we don't support them, they will cease to exist. The ability to ask questions & actually lay hands on the gear is priceless.
At 6:03-ish to 6:56 there is real golden information - worth listening to twice. The list of things a fly shop can help with is amazing and most of it they do for free. No one wants you to be successful more than the fly shop employees (and your fishing guide 😅). An extra 5 or 10 percent on the price of a guided trip would be a meager tip to your guide. Consider the extra you pay to be more than fair for having a local fly shop to help you, chat, suggest spots to fish, select flies…
G’day. Hope y’all had a good thanksgiving. Finally getting precip and snow here in the PNW. Great overview on getting started. I’ve always directed friends to LL Bean for beginning complete rigs, good price points and excellent warranty and CS. The other piece of the puzzle is to find a good fly shop that has all of the other stuff: how to use your gear, local knowledge of waters and bugs, classes and river restoration stuff. Buying a few flies is a great way to find out what’s happening before you hit the stream. A day or two with a good guide can give you year’s worth of knowledge too.
Before Corona virus our fly fishing club taught a fly fishing course each year During the casting clinic students bought along gear they acquired. Experienced members teaching the casting clinic got to try out the students' rods. The rods ranged from over $600 to bargain combo kits costing under a $100 on sale. The cheaper rods typically cast well. Of course guides and finish were not as refined as the costly rods. I agree for saltwater splurge on a durable fly reel.
when you think about it. casting shouldn't matter much at all on the rod price since you can cast without a rod just using the fly line in your hand. It's all about the line.
Solid advice Alvin! I went with more $ in the reel for salt and more in the rod for fresh. I’ve been convinced on best line you can afford in both applications.
$150 reel for rod $100 fishing line $49 on it get Batter what I did $100 on line my reel 12wt rod 12wt for people in saltwater sharks big fishing takes that lures run with it what happened to my 8wt borke on me burn up in and my rod borke on me
On clearence on sale is how i buy...just got the 5wt 9ft outfit synch by cabelas. Msrp 159 sale now 59.99 a 6 year old product. I love it im getting the 8wt for my second rod. Great for learning the 5wt is all i can speak too now.
