Fly Fishing On A Budget: Rod Suggestions?

Notices Things Wanted
1

I’m rather new to fly fishing and don’t have a lot of money to spend on a rod. I primaraly fish for sunfish and bass around 3lbs… I can spend up to $150 for a rod. Any suggestions?

2

Cabela’s, BPS and others all have entry level kits for around your price. That is rod, reel and line.

3

Do you need a complete outfit (rod,reel, and line) for $150 or do you have a loaded reel you plan on using. If so what reel and line size do you have? I would look for a six weight outfit if you are starting from scratch. I have never used one but a lot of people have said good things about Albright rods for the price. I have cast the Scientific Anglers starter sets which sold at the time for about $90 and I think you would be pleased with one. If you can’t figure out what to do with the rest of the money you have my permission to send send it here. O.K. use it for flies and leaders.

4

echo carbon

5

neal,

You will get a lot of suggestions because there are a lot of good rods out there that fit into your price range.

There are three that I would suggest:

The Redington Red Fly 2 would be a good starter rod, guaranteed for life, the 8’ 6" rod in a 5 weight would be good for the fish you are going for and it sells for $130.
http://www.redington.com/prod.php?k=50169&p=RDT5-2201K001&u=Red.Fly2

Also, the Temple Fork Outfitters (TFO) Signature Series, also guaranteed for life, would be a good choice. The 8’ 6", in a 5 weight sells for $110.
http://www.templeforkflyrods.com/products/rods/signature.html

Another suggestion would be the Albright GPX rod in an 8 foot which is a 5/6 weight rod. This sells for $150.
[FONT=Times New Roman]http://www.albrightflyfish.com/fly-rods/gpx-fly-rods-new.html[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Have gun shopping, have even more fun fishing.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Larry —sagefisher—[/FONT]

6

You have a Cabelas store in Ft. Worth, A Bass Pro in Grapevine and TFO is headquartered in the area. You can comparison shop yourself to death there. I have a TFO 3wt. that I absolutely love, it has been replaced once and the service was great. My wet fly rod is a BPS Dogwood Canyon which would probably leave you $90 in change, the problem with my casting is not the capabilities of the rod. The deals at Albrights alway look good to me and everyone speaks well of their rods. I saw a quote by Lefty Kreh to the effect if the rod cost over a $100 it was probably better than the guy using it.

7

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I highly recommend the Cabela’s “Three Forks” rod with the Prestige Plus reel. They’re excellent rods for the price!

8

Albright A5, or a TFO Clouser rod.

9

These are all great suggestions, but I’ve bought and sold items on www.craigslist.org. Find your area and go to the sporting section and type “fly” or “fly fishing” in the search at the top and hopefully you will get some results. You can find some great deals on there. I found a Winston BIIx 6wt never used for 350 when it usually goes for 700. Heck, it’s worth a shot instead of going to a big bargain shop you may be helping someone out who may need to ditch some gear for rent. (Had to do that once).

Cheers

10

Did some homework for you:

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/spo/1849796690.html

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/spo/1838995526.html

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/spo/1776248370.html

These are in or around the Dallas area
Good luck.

11

All very good suggestions! I’d go the combo route for now. First hand experience with Redington, Albright and Cabelas and I’d rank them in that order.

12

Thanks for all the suggestions! I bought my first outfit a few months back, but would really like to upgrade the rod. All your suggestions are very helpful!

13

If you are interested in building your own, I’d look at the Batson line of blanks. You can get cosmetic blems for $20 or less, and could build a nice performing rod up for $40 or $45 in components (not counting materials). Otherwise, $150 will get you a nice factory rod, and you have some good recommendations so far.

14

You also have a Gander Mountain store in Texas. I bought a 5wt fiberglass rod blank (no longer avbailable) off ebay for $6.99. Probably build it for less than $20.

If you are interested in just a rod…I suggest you PM Apache Trout on here. His craftsmanship is excellent and he sells rods all year long. Don’t know his plan but he sells very very reasonably. Look up Apache Trout in the members list and PM him. He just might have something for you.

I just looked it up.

Apachetrout

BTW I am not sure how much upgrade you intend to do. A few years ago JC won the distance casting contest with an SA combo from Wal-Mart athat at the time was around $69. I personally purhcases the Wal-Mart "Orvis 9’ 6wt combo for $115. I find it quite decent. Rod, mid-arbor reel, backing leader…etc. Have caught a lot of trout on it…and wouldn’t be afraid to attempt to land a lunker with it.

Just fyi