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Ultra Cheap Gear

2K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  treklite 
#1 ·
Hello,

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get into fly fishing very inexpensively? I will hike into Baxter State Park for the 2nd straight year with my friends and would like to fish with my own gear. I considered making my own gear but a guy from the Kittery Trading Post at the World Fly Fishing Expo in Wilmington MA said it would still be very expensive that way.

I could go used or convert my spincasting ugly stick (if possible).

Thanks. Any ideas would be great.

Jeff
 
#2 ·
Check your 'main stream' fishing catalog retailers ..

frequently they will have some very good 'combo deals.' You just have to have a good idea what your looking for before you pull out your credit card. Don't forget to look at the 'bargin basement' sections of their boards; some VERY good deals are frequently found there .... even from folks like Orvis, etc.

How much 'out of pocket' are you looking at?

(e.g. size/type of target fish, length of rod appropriate, etc.)
 
#3 ·
$175.00 to $200.00 is able to get you into a good rod, line, reel, and line backing. There are several combo set up available in this price range that include everything but the flies and casting lessons.

If you take a look is the areas Fred suggested, you could get yourself commpletely set-up for less. Remember, you don't need to have the most expensive rods and reels in order to get started and enjoy fly fishing.

You left out some important information for us to give good recommendations to you though. We need to know what fish you are gong to pursue, the size of the waters you are going to fish, and how much you want to spend or think of as expensive.
 
#4 ·
How cheap is cheap

What do you really want to spend? That is the real deciding factor. $200.00 will get you a nice little outfit (Cabelas, LL Bean). $100.00 will get you something (Wal Mart, like the S.A. beginners everything included kit), probably something that you will get rid of quickly if you decide you like flyfishing. If you can't spend at least $100.00 and don't already know the basics of fly casting, take your ugly stick spinning rod and some spinners and spoons and go fishing. To heck with it. Listen, I'd rather catch fish! Besides, if you're asking this you probably don't know how to effectively fly fish (and honestly, that is not intended to be sarcastic or demeaning) and the truth is you'd spend your vacation in frustration trying to make the dang thing work and not catching fish. Wouldn't you really rather go catch some fish? I'm a long time spin fisherman who loves to fly fish too. I will be honest with you. It will take a minimum of a couple hundred bucks in gear and a couple hundred bucks in lessons, plus some dedicated time on the water LEARNING to fly cast, not actually fly fishing and catching fish. This is great as long as you square this with yourself. If you spend your vacation trying to figure it out you will come away dissapointed, unless the whole idea is to spend your vacation trying to learn. Do yourself a favor. If you can afford it, buy decent gear and take a couple lessons. If not, plan to do it sometime in the future and go spinfishing now and have fun. At the core of this, that's what it's all about.
 
#5 ·
To Moose's point, we can't assume that Jeff is gonna buy his gear and then just try to learn on his vacation. If he's fishing Baxter State Park in Maine, then I assume this will be brook trout fishing and may still be a few months away. That's plenty of time to get outfitted, practice, and maybe even get a lesson or two so that he's not entirely green on his trip.

Whatever outfit you choose, let us know how it works out for you. Good luck.
 
#6 ·
Thank you for helping me get started

Great advice on helping me get me started. Thank you! I"ll look into gear for the Baxter Brook Trout I hope to catch this fall. I do have a friend who has been teaching me how to fly fish so I'm looking forward to speaking to him again soon.

You guys are great! Thank you.

Jeff
 
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