I am wanting to try to pick up on fly fishing. I would like a set up that I could use for trout/steelhead, and maybe if lucky a salmon, but I am not looking to break the bank on my first rig. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Assuming the rivers you will be fly fishing are medium to large in width. Not small creeks or rivers under 10-15 yards across.

Trout - 5/6 wgt - 7-9 ft
Steelhead - 7/8 wgt - 9-10 ft
Salmon - 9/10 wgt - 9-10 ft

This would be a single handed fly rod not a double hander (spey rod).

I would select based on what type fish and fly fishing (nymph, streamer, drys) you will primarily be doing.

Fly Line - weight forward floating and sink tip combination

Fly Reel - lots of choices, you don't need an expensive fly reel for trout or steelhead. Click and pawl drag will do the job however if you can afford a better reel with a sealed drag would be preferable.

What is your budget for this purchase ?

Hope this helps need some more information to help you further.

These days you can get a reel, rod, and fly line to start with of decent quality equipment for $ 200-300.

FL

GV,

I'm just guessing, but I suspect that you don't use the same spinning or casting rod for trout, steelhead, and salmon - all three. Imagine picking just one tool from your arsenal to do all three. You'd be just as limited in trying to do so with fly gear.

If I had to pare my selection to cover those bases to just two outfits, I'd choose a 9' 5 wt for trout fishing, or maybe a 6, but my preference favors the 5. Then I'd pick a 9 1/2' 8 wt for steelhead and salmon, knowing that I'm going to be a bit light for large silvers and chum, but OK most of the time. Forget kings; they're 10 wt material.

If cost is that much a consideration, you can get good import rods at Sportco for $100 to $150 and Okuma reels, which I've heard are pretty good, for less than $45.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

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

You'll be thrilled at catching steelies on a flyrod. You prolly won't catch as many with gear, but it is a different challenge and accomplishment. Either way though, catching steelies is a rush.

Go with a metal reel over the graphite. I have know some people who were quite disappointed with Okuma graphite reels.

I have known some low budget anglers who praise the Bass Pro White River series of reels, and prefer them over the Okuma. The BP WR reels are not Orvis or Ross, but they are regarded as "good for the money."

Buying Orvis Battenkill and Battenkill Large Arbors used from classifieds, off ebay, etc. is not a bad option to consider. They have disc drags, which will be preferable for steelies. Battenkills are big sellers because of drag for the money. You may want to match them up with a TFO rod, they receive good marks. I will prolly buy a TFO 7 weight to complement what I have.

Orvis has a traveling clearance sale, and I have picked up some bargain reels marked as "Demo" there.

I've seen some of the bigger, discontinued Ross reels like the Gunnison 4 sell for $100-125 dollars. It is not large arbor, and the standard arbor reels have somewhat fallen out of favor, particularly for heavier applications. But those reels have fine drags and will get the job done. I have one, and have no complaints. I also have large arbor Canyons.

I bought a Sage 5wt. from Kaufmans in Bellevue. Cost about $200 but it was well worth it... Don't give in to those $50 beginner setups. I used one for about a year, bought the Sage, and haven't looked back. It was quite an investment, but I can cast so much better, much more accurately and smoothly, and I've had a lot more successful hookups.

Talk to Ryan at Kaufmans though, he'll help you get the rod you need. He helped lead me to the rod I ended up buying, and to this day I still feel like he genuinely cared about making sure I didn't invest in something I didn't want. Every time I go back, he greets me kindly and helps me with whatever I need, plus he updates me with the latest reports.

Do some research and try it out, I used to be scared of learning how to fish all over again, but man its been a blast. You land your first fish with a fly and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about

Good luck!

Curtis

Very good answer!!