New Fly fisherboy

[mojoputter]

My son who is 13 wants to start flyfishing, I fly fish myself but I am a beginner also, I have used my rod about 4 or 5 times so I am not real knowledgable about what kind of a set up to buy him. I don't want to spend alot of money but I don't want to go to cheap either, he may use it about 2 or 3 times and maybe not want to do it anymore, thats just the way he is sometimes.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[deathmatch782]

If your not sure that he will stick with it, go and get one of the cheaper starter kits.

Thats what I started on, and they work well enough.

[EatSleepFish]

just make sure the times you take him out fly fishing that he catches fish, if he doesnt he may be discouraged. even if there small trout, or even sunfish and bass off the dock, there fish on a fly rod. right? anyways as far as the fly rod and reel BassProShops has a whiteriver fly shops rod that i believe is called dogwood canyon. i started out with their 7' 4wt. for around $85 w/ shipping. oh yeah comes with backing aand a orange Weight-Forward floating fly line. good rod for the price.

[Trout Guy]

I am 15 and have been flyfishing for about three years, i started with a cheaper combo and it works great. I have since upgraded but still use my cheap combo a lot.

[engadine52]

Mojoputter

Good luck encouraging your son to acquire a new passion(or as my wife says "what??, another hobby?"). Cortland and Scientific Angler (a 3M company) put together some very nice Kits for starting someone out. The rods are very functional, an inexpensive but sturdy reel and fly line of their brand, which are also good. I often see these kits for about $100 plus or minus a little. Check the larger retailer stores: Cablea's, Gander Mountain or Sportsmens Warehouse. That is were I see them.

Here is a little trick I did that worked well. Take a look at what you own, and buy a line weight, and rod length different then what you own for your self. IE if you have 3/4 Wt. or 8/9wt. Buy you son a 5 or 6 wieght. That way if it comes back to you from lack of use, you can round out your arsenal.

DN

[DinkADunk]

I built my son (9) and daughter (8) 5wt, 8', 4pc rods that cost about 60$ each (2pc rods would have been about $40 each). Both rods are teamed up with Cabela's Prestige reels (rebranded Okuma reels, recently on sale for around $20 ea), and decent fly lines (SA Mastery GPX $60 ea). Don't skimp with fly line. Sometimes, you can find very decent fly line on sale or closeout and can save a lot of money. For example, you can find Cortland 555 (WF5) for $30 on closeout; decent line, great price.

Unfortunately the fly lines that come with the cheaper combo's (St Croix, SA) are pretty bad and really need to be replaced with something better.

I would go to a decent fly shop and get their recommendations. There are a lot of very good, inexpensive fly rods, and for trout an expensive reel isn't needed. Besides the gear, a good fly shop is a great resource for the advice you'll need. A good fly shop can also steer you towards that flies that work well in your area and they'll teach you how/when to use them. Many local fly shop's also have classes that combine casting instruction with stream time. Trout day (see the Rochester/SE MN forum) is also a good resource for learning how to cast a fly. The DNR through its MinnAqua program is another resource to take advantage of.

My kids have been fishing for 3 years now and are comfortable with spinning gear, bobers, and even trolling so they have the patience to learn a new technique (fly fishing) and aren't too disapointed if they don't catch something when we go out. When we go out stream fishing one of us usually brings a spinning setup to as chucking hardware sometimes works better than the fly