I realize everyone will have their own favorites, but does anybody care to share their ideas on what they feel is a good beginner’s fly outifts? The reason I asked because this is for a man, not a child, that’s financially secure, but who has never fly fished. I would guess somewhere in the neighborhood of $150.00 or so.
Thanks,
Bruce
Check out some of the outfits Cabela’s has . Good value and a modest investment until you discover you 'have to have ’ that higher end outfit!
Yeah, there’s a lot of inexpensive fly rod combos out there that I think are great for the beginner ~ (and speaking of Cabelas)
Saw a Redington Red Fly outfit on sale at our local GAnder Mtn for $57.00!!
Jackson, Tn.
Check out dudley’s post in Fly Tying, “today at Wally world”.
Scientific Anglers Outfits are around $100 have have good components. Any of the Cortland outfits are pretty nice too. Both come with good flylines, which is often not the cast with lower cost outfits. Redington Crosswater outfits are very good too.
8 1/2 ft-5 wgt. combo! Ive seen them from Cortland; SA; Cabelas…etc. Med-med/fast action…NOT A “FAST ACTION” and have it “set-up” by someone who knows whats going on…as far as line; backing…etc.
Albright. They are a sponsor on FAOL and still have some SMOKIN’ deals going on.
Bruse,
For a beginners outfit, or for that matter, any person, the Albright’s Topwater fly rod/reel/line outfit is hard to beat.
Right now they have it in the 5/6 weight size, perfect for trout and panfish and smallies.
I have given several of these to newbies and they really liked them. I did a little practice casting on one first and I must admit, it casts really well.
Take a look at Albright’s.
For $60 plus shipping you can’t go wrong.
OTW 90562 5/6 WF5F or WF6F 9’ 2 A TW 5/6 $59.99
http://www.albrightflyfish.com/fly-outfits/topwater-outfits.html
Larry —sagefisher—
I’d second Albright.
I have the 4wt A-5 and love it!
LL Bean is not a sponsor, but, their Streamlight Combo is one very nice rod and the package price is hard to beat. For $180 you will receive the rod weight of your choice, large arbor disc drag reel, very good fly line, backing, tapered leader and a nice cordura reel-on-rod case to keep the combo in. Let them know which hand you reel with and they will install the backing and fly line on the reel for you. I have this combo and am very pleased with the whole outfit.
Just a recommendation that I have experience with and am pleased.
If you have more questions on this outfit, you can PM “Heritage Angler” on FAOL. He is very helpful and a great guy to talk to.
the redingtons seem to be a good deal, as do the ross’s.
Gander in my area is getting out of the fly fishing business. There store was so poorly stocked and they wondered why they didn’t sell any fly fishing equipment. If you can’t find anything there you go somewhere else. Too bad really. They did carry some decent rods by St. Croix locally. Some good deals might be found at your local Gander.
Sage Launch with Okuma Sierra for now, upgrade the reel later. I bought a new Okuma Sierra off of Ebay for $15 shipped price a while back. You can find line on Ebay for $15 too if you search. Another good thing to upgrade later. Think of it as buying a house young and living without having much furniture. You add that as you gain income. Pretty good deal on the Sage Launch: http://www.mrfc.com/MadisonRiverShopping/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=4
Cortland has the Americana rod 50% off right now at
http://www.cortlandline.com/Scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=40
Line??
http://www.cortlandline.com/Scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=38
Or you can just hit
Speaking from personal experience:
Either a Redington outfit or Albright. Either one will make you very happy. They only thing you will want to upgrade after a while is the line.
Orvis has the Streamline rods and combos on clearance right now. Good bang for the buck at retail, great right now. Also, the Ross worldwide stuff is real quality stuff. I’ve been using the worldwide reels off and on for years and got a chance to cast the flystik last week. If those pieces are any indication, the quality is first rate.
The Sage Launch, as Clay had mentioned, is not a bad stick either. Something your friend won’t outgrow quickly.
Update on the Redington Crosswater outfit at Squander Mtn.
I went back in to shop around and looked at the outfit they had marked down to $57. It was marked $70.00. 
Agree.
Our TU chapter bought 12 Topwater Outfits for our class. They are the 4 pc rods 5/6 wts that are now out of stock. Albright donated extra outfits so that we got a total of 17 at a cost less than $50.00 each.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the 2 pc outfits that they still have.
They cast extremely well for their cost. Thanks Albright!
We’ve had lots of good brand suggestions. Allow me to give some type suggestions.
A 4 or 5 weight is probably the best all around rod for stream and river fishing. Some would say 6 weight and after nymph fishing the upper Sacramento river I’ve come to like that as well. But I still caught a good size fish on my 4 wt and it worked just fine.
2 piece or 4 piece? I strongly suggest 4 piece. 2 Piece rods will be a little less expensive. But I quickly found myself wanting to pack my rod in with me when I was hiking (I live in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains and I can be at one of several high Sierra trail heads in an hour). I made a rod case from PVC tubing the it was long, awkward and heavy. My 4 pc rod in a shorter case is much easier to attach to my back pack.
What kind of line? A weight forward line is a good all around line. My first line (just 3 years ago) was a double taper which I got because I knew I would be roll casting a lot. The weight forward line didn’t hamper my roll casting at all and helped my long cast quite a bit.
Get a couple rolls each of 5x 6x and maybe one roll of 7x tippet. You’ll go through a lot of tippet as you get tangled up and have to re-rig. It’s frustrating, but you’ll learn to re-rig quickly. I’m surprised at how fast I can tie knots now. Most of those tangles come from starting your forward cast too early or by pushing that forward cast too fast. Just relax and it will come to you.
Because we all tangle our leaders I now carry a MonoMaster
http://www.grasshopperproducts.com/
It’s a good way to store up old tippet and keep it out of the water.
Inexpensive rods tend to be heavier and (I’ve noticed) a lot stiffer. Some of the new rods may be better but regardless of the rod, spend as much time as you can practicing. I cast into my pool so I can practice roll casting and on the water mending.
Remember that you’re going to loose flies. That’s OK. It’s often said that if you’re not loosing flies then your not fishing deep enough. Buy or tie more flies than you think you’ll need because you will loose them. Most of us carry more flies than we could ever use and somehow we never seem to have exactly the right one.
Most of all, have fun. Remember, it may take a while to catch your first fish on a fly. It took me nearly 6 months. But every bit of time I spend on the river it good time. All my other problems go away when I’m fishing. And that’s what it’s all about.
Enjoy.
Greg