So far my experience as a Fly Fisher have involved a cheap rod, some Orivs lessons and a guided trip on a lake in British Columbia. I've been looking forward to the day I would start collecting my own gear and that day was this Saturday. After some guidance from a couple of you here on this forum I took my list and headed off to Cabella's. I had the whole family in tow, I think they were equally excited to learn how to fly fish! It was super exciting. After reading and re-reading techniques, tackle, accessories, I was really "gearing up." My 9 year-old son smartly pointed out a 8ft 3wt and said, "Dad, I want that one, it's the perfect size for me." Funny cause it took me about 3 books, one website and countless YouTube videos to figure that out....I just took it as a sign.

As for the gear, I wound up sticking with the cheap rod, new 5 wt WF line & some flies. Since I hadn't jumped off the deep end yet with purchasing gear, I decided the new rod/reel could wait. I also picked up a net, floatant, nail knot tier, tippet, tippet holder, small multi-tool, split shot (tin) #4, forceps and a fly box.
I'm all ears on what I should add / takeaway on the above list. By the way, forceps are the coolest invention! I can't believe all these years of fishing for bass and I never used a set of these things. Just having them to hold stuff that would otherwise stick in me while I dug through my gear was really cool.

As a side commentary for those of you interested in my plight as a novice, the fun really started when I got to take that cheap level line off the reel and add the new stuff. I really enjoyed tying it all together with the 3 knots (I used the existing backing). It's almost like working on your car, it was a satisfying feeling given that a month ago I didn't know there were 3 different types of material on a rod, much less how to tie them together. My kids were really excited too, so I tied on a 3x 7.5' leader and a #10 hopper and headed down to the local pond to "practice."

What started out as an effort to get back on a lake with a rod (for the 2nd time) turned into a complete family affair complete with wife, kids & dog. It was a little comical at first given the fact that I'm still pretty green and they all watched as if I was some kind of expert. Even the dog was watching. After a couple of really bad casts and some thoughts about how I should've brought the camera to record & study my casting, the chorus of "can I try" started in. Then much to my amazement, my 11 year old picked up the rod and for the first time in his life cast a beautiful J loop and my 5 year old exclaimed "Wow Ethan! You're better than Dad!" Talk about funny, my wife just hooted and I couldn't help but laugh too - the irony was pretty evident. But then it hit me - I just found a new family activity and we were ALL having a blast and the only casualty was my #10 hopper (which whipped off on some errant cast). I told my wife later, if all I loose is $1.50 to have a great time outside then I'm pretty ok with this new sport. She agreed.