07-05-2012, 07:07 PM
Congrats! You never forget your first fish on a fly. Last year I bought a $60 rod and reel combo (included fly line and leader). Caught a surprising number of fish on that set-up and it still does when used by my daughter (albeit with a little nicer reel).
Once I knew it was more than a passing fancy, I went crazy buying nicer gear, and while it adds to the ease and the pleasure of casting a fly, a fighting trout on the $60 rod is as much fun as on an expensive rod.
Just my two cents, and I'm sure others may have better informed opinions, but I found replacing the fly line and the leader to really improve the casting performance (and it was just a $24 line on sale at Cabelas). Good leaders are your bread and butter, and the Sportsman's Warehouse ones work fine for a few dollars.
I would suggest getting a few furled leaders from Flygoddes. They made dry fly casting easier for me and they last much longer than a mono leader -- you just have to add some feet of tippet at the end and you're ready to go.
The plastic reel was OK, but upgrading to a metal reel was a nice change, but not necessary if the the plastic one is sufficient to easyly cast and land trout.
However, if your set-up ain't broke, then no need to fix it.
[signature]
Once I knew it was more than a passing fancy, I went crazy buying nicer gear, and while it adds to the ease and the pleasure of casting a fly, a fighting trout on the $60 rod is as much fun as on an expensive rod.
Just my two cents, and I'm sure others may have better informed opinions, but I found replacing the fly line and the leader to really improve the casting performance (and it was just a $24 line on sale at Cabelas). Good leaders are your bread and butter, and the Sportsman's Warehouse ones work fine for a few dollars.
I would suggest getting a few furled leaders from Flygoddes. They made dry fly casting easier for me and they last much longer than a mono leader -- you just have to add some feet of tippet at the end and you're ready to go.
The plastic reel was OK, but upgrading to a metal reel was a nice change, but not necessary if the the plastic one is sufficient to easyly cast and land trout.
However, if your set-up ain't broke, then no need to fix it.
[signature]