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Interesting, do you suggest buying one of the combo rod/reels like Redington or Orvis or buying everything separately?

If you're not chasing real big fish, the combos are fine. The reel really comes into play when fishing for stuff that takes drag like steelhead and salmon. For most trout and panfish, you'll never put the fish on the reel.

The biggest thing, which really shows itself with a fly rod, is buying a rod for the technique. 90% of my fly fishing is dry flies on smaller streams, so I prefer lighter rods and more moderate actions so I can make precise casts and lay the fly down soft.

If I'm trying to throw a heavy fly like some types of streamers, I get a longer and faster rod that can move more line.

Watch some videos to find out what kind of fly fishing appeals to you. Go to an actual fly shop that will take the time to get your cast figured out and let you cast a few rods. The right one will "feel" right.
 
Sage hands down! I've been out of the game for a bit(shoulders have gotten to arthritic), but a Sage SPL 389 is the cats meow! It'll present a #16-20 parachute Adam's to a Wiley Metolius river Redside and still have enough backbone to roll a #10 bead head prince with #16 pheasant tail and indicator out to the slot in the Wizard falls hole.

I started back in the early 80's with an Eagle Claw glass 9' 8wt fishing the Molalla river. After a few years I found a hand made 7' superultralight at Bill and Rich's in Canby. I mail ordered the brand new at the time Orvis 2wt DT line and crucified the trout on the Molalla and later in college the Lukimute and Santiam rivers.

Once I started making some money I ended up finding a Sage XPT(?) 486 that got me hooked on Sage. I ended up finding myself at the Kaufman's fly shop in Tigard. That's were I got the Sage SPL 389. I also ended up with an SPL 080... oh my what fun! #16-20 dry, emegers or wets on itty-bitty steams. Those were the days...

I digress, my apologies. Find a 4 or 5 wt that feels good in your hand. Then match it with a real that balances it. Maybe buy an extra spool too. Double taper for delicate presentations and roll casting, weight forward taper for long presentation, streamers, and deep nymphing. Your journey is just beginning. It's yours and yours alone... asking advise is good, just remember it's your journey. There are no wrong answers, just side tracks
 
If I could buy only 1 rod in my life, I'd probably choose this one in 3 piece 5wt 8'6".

 
Fly fishing is like Golf - you *could* play with one club, but you'd only have the right tool for one job, and it'd suck for everything else. 9 weight for salmon / steelhead is fine. Heavy PNW saltwater fishing. Heck, I even used a 10 weight for some bass fishing applications - and if you're near Washington or Idaho, you have Pike and Muskie that will test a 9 weight.

Montana / Wyoming / Idaho trout? I'd carry two rods for that - an 8-9' 4 weight for fishing dry flies and small nymphs, and then an 8-9 foot 6 weight for throwing big dries (like hopper patters), dry & dropper rigs, heavy nymph rigs, and streamer fishing. If you were going to go all serious on hunting predatory trout on big streamers, then a 7 or 8 weight would be the right tool (9 still being kind of overkill there)

Of course if you get into small streams, a 6 to 7'6" 2-4 weight is the bee's knees on that kind of water. You're talking short, pinpoint casts, and a 4 weight can toss a 3 inch streamer 30 feet if you feel the need to head hunt on small water.

If you get into spring creeks (slow moving, glassy, gin clear water with picky, spooky trout) you'll want maybe something like an 8 to 9 foot 2-4 weight for longer, delicate casts and turning over long thin leaders with small flies.

And that's not touching on technique-specific stuff, really. You get the bug bad, then you're looking at 10-12 foot Czech nymphing rods, light two handed rods for swinging flies for trout, heavy two handed rods for salmon & steelhead... yeah, welcome to the addiction!

Don't even get me started on fly tying and tackle craft. I just bought a wire former tool from Hobby Lobby so I could make my own articulation shanks. :rolleyes:
 
Fly fishing is like Golf - you *could* play with one club, but you'd only have the right tool for one job, and it'd suck for everything else. 9 weight for salmon / steelhead is fine. Heavy PNW saltwater fishing. Heck, I even used a 10 weight for some bass fishing applications - and if you're near Washington or Idaho, you have Pike and Muskie that will test a 9 weight.

Montana / Wyoming / Idaho trout? I'd carry two rods for that - an 8-9' 4 weight for fishing dry flies and small nymphs, and then an 8-9 foot 6 weight for throwing big dries (like hopper patters), dry & dropper rigs, heavy nymph rigs, and streamer fishing. If you were going to go all serious on hunting predatory trout on big streamers, then a 7 or 8 weight would be the right tool (9 still being kind of overkill there)

Of course if you get into small streams, a 6 to 7'6" 2-4 weight is the bee's knees on that kind of water. You're talking short, pinpoint casts, and a 4 weight can toss a 3 inch streamer 30 feet if you feel the need to head hunt on small water.

If you get into spring creeks (slow moving, glassy, gin clear water with picky, spooky trout) you'll want maybe something like an 8 to 9 foot 2-4 weight for longer, delicate casts and turning over long thin leaders with small flies.

And that's not touching on technique-specific stuff, really. You get the bug bad, then you're looking at 10-12 foot Czech nymphing rods, light two handed rods for swinging flies for trout, heavy two handed rods for salmon & steelhead... yeah, welcome to the addiction!

Don't even get me started on fly tying and tackle craft. I just bought a wire former tool from Hobby Lobby so I could make my own articulation shanks. :rolleyes:
How are you connecting the shanks together? Always found that to be the most difficult part.
 
How are you connecting the shanks together? Always found that to be the most difficult part.

The ones I'm making are slightly less pretty clones of the Fish Skull Fish Spine Shanks

4H96wUq.jpg

Hobby Lobby was running a 40% off coupon for their jewelry making tools, which included the wire former I got.

aOp5bZC.jpg Regular $33 (plus tax) it was $21 after tax.
 
The ones I'm making are slightly less pretty clones of the Fish Skull Fish Spine Shanks

View attachment 825895

Hobby Lobby was running a 40% off coupon for their jewelry making tools, which included the wire former I got.

View attachment 825896 Regular $33 (plus tax) it was $21 after tax.
Gotta get me one of those. I've been inspired to get another jetty rod, gear or fly is the only question.
Those articulated patterns are killer on the Metolius too!
 
Gotta get me one of those. I've been inspired to get another jetty rod, gear or fly is the only question.
Those articulated patterns are killer on the Metolius too!

I did the math - one spool of the single strand stainless wire on the *high end* was $16 (I already had it from other lure making ventures) and the tool, on sale was $21 - totalling $37 to get started if you get the tool on sale (or find one on Amazon) - Fish Skull Fish Spines are $8-10 per pack, so for the cost of 4 packs, you can make hundreds or at least dozens of shanks depending on how big you make 'em. Then its just the cost of the wire after that, $16 is two more packs, but you'll make hundreds or dozens more vs the 10 that come in each pack.
 
I did the math - one spool of the single strand stainless wire on the *high end* was $16 (I already had it from other lure making ventures) and the tool, on sale was $21 - totalling $37 to get started if you get the tool on sale (or find one on Amazon) - Fish Skull Fish Spines are $8-10 per pack, so for the cost of 4 packs, you can make hundreds or at least dozens of shanks depending on how big you make 'em. Then its just the cost of the wire after that, $16 is two more packs, but you'll make hundreds or dozens more vs the 10 that come in each pack.
I also found the sizes in the packs to be lacking, I think I looked ages ago and I would need at least two packs of small and large to make some of the larger articulated patterns I was interested in. One of these days I'll go through my stuff and start tying again. It definitely pays for itself to make your own, and I recall using the spinner wires from Oregon Tackle company to make a few articulated Hexagenia nymphs.
 
And let's not even get started on Bamboo rods, that's a whole nother addiction! :eek:
Have 3 of them now, one is a 3 wt, one a 8 wt, and one a 10 wt 14 foot Spey! Once you have gone old school Bamboo, there is no going back!
 

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