Kings: 9-10 wt

Chum: 7-9wt

Silvers: 6-8wt

Steelhead: 6(summer runs) - 8wt

Small trout and other fish (less than 20 inches): 3-5wt


You can start out with some low budget gear that is actually decent in quality, has a decent warranty, and should last many years if treated well.

For example:

Pfluger rods and reels. Time tested and proven for decades. Newer rods are pretty good. I have a 8wt Pfluger rod\reel combo I got from cabelas (line, rod, reel) for under $150. Performs great for salmon and steelehead.

You can also get wwgrigg\northwest X rods (they make a lower end and a higher end rod) for 35-100 bucks. The lower end rods have cheaper components. Their better rods are impressive for the price.

Okuma reels.

TFO rods are popular now as a good fly shop quality rod with a very competitive price.

If I were in your shoes, I'd consider getting 2 setups. A 9' 5wt setup for everything from summer steel on smaller rivers on down to alpine lakes brookies or panfish. Nothing like fishing a warm summer evening with dry flies and having fish go airborne as they strike. Or fishing big hopper or damsel fly patterns for larger trout who shamelessly slam them and scare the pants off you.

The other rod I would get would be a 9' 8wt for summer steel up to salmon. Big kings and big native steel will be challenging, but doable.

You don't have to look or spend like an Orvis Catalog yuppie to be a fly fisherman. Many hard core, life long fly fisherman use pflueger reels year round. But if you got some money burning a hole in your pocket, there are sure a lot of cool fly fishing gadgets that are great at hooking fisherman, if not fish