Gear

Choosing the right gear is important in any sport, but especially in fly fishing. As a novice angler, sometimes gear can be confusing, overwhelming, and difficult to navigate. This post is designed to give you the tools to choose the fly line that will work best for you.

Many fly anglers begin their journey with hand-me-down gear from a sibling, friend or elder. This equipment often comes with valuable information and is typically enough to get anyone started down the rabbit hole that is fly fishing. With that being said, there’s nothing quite like picking out your own fly rod for the first time. If you’re like me and got into the sport on your own, I hope this guide will help you choose an entry-level fly rod that meets your needs and enhances your passion for fly fishing for years to come. 

To the uninitiated, fly fishing seems to require a large amount of equipment. From picking fly rods to fly reels, to choosing fly lines, fly fishing flies, and tippets, the amount of gear you need looks daunting! However, it’s much simpler than it looks, and you don’t need to buy thousands of dollars worth of equipment to enjoy fly fishing. You can get away without spending much money at all if you know what you’re doing. And remember that most of the world’s top fly fishers started with the basics.  An inexpensive fly rod, reel and line, along with a basic selection of flies, will work perfectly well while you’re learning the sport.

Drift boat fly fishing is subtly different than the usual wade fishing, and I tend to prefer a particular type of rod for float trips. Over the years, I’ve developed a checklist for performance features that drift boat dry fly rods need to have.