with no offense meant to harleybob87...

I have also taught with the Cherrywood stick and likened to using JC's broomstick. I would not recommend learning with it...

There are better inexpensive rods out there...and used rods are always coming up for reasonable prices.

As far as the reel, for freshwater species, most can be landed on any reel. I don't like the trigger models because they do not allow the caster to really learn how to manage a typical fly reel. I would prefer the use of an inexpensive Pflueger Medalist to a trigger reel.

I think I still have an old 7 WFF that would be an OK line for starting out. Bmail me your snail mail address and I'll send you the line.

Regards,

Dianne