Hi Ditz,

as PA Dave points out, well said. I have an Eagle Claw fly rod that was $25, and I like it a lot. It is a 5 wt 6' 6" yellow fiberglass job and it is wonderful for fishing brush and tree lined streams. I also have some expensive rods, but for the beginner, I would recommend inexpensive stuff.

My reels are mostly Crystal River Fly Reels that I bought on the net, and the most expensive one was probably on the order of $30. For the fly fishing I do, they work fine. The truth is that for the fly fishing I do, inexpensive equipment would do fine. It is nice to have a really light weight rod, as the cheaper rods tend to be heavier than my high dollar rods, but in truth it does not matter very much.

By the way, since Ditz asked, you used to be able to buy inexpensive Eagle Claw rods on Ebay. I assume that you still can. I don't know if any of the sponsers carry them.

My point is, which Ditz made much more effectively than I will, that you don't need expensive stuff to fly fish with, especially as a beginner. When I was younger my wife and I had kids in college too, and I didn't have a lot of spare money for high dollar rods. Lately I have started building my own rods, and the days of me buying the really expensive rods, even if I did buy them used at about half price or less, are over.

As far as actual fishing goes, I don't think using a high dollar fly rod will make me a better fisherman at all. At times they are nice though.

Regards,

Gandolf