I think the importance of fly fishing equipment is over rated for someone who is just beginnning or only fishes a few times every year. The marginal value of a really great rod or a reel with a smooth drag is lost unless you have a certain skill level. By this I mean that there are so many other important variable that have nothing to do with equipment (ie fly placement, basic casting skills, drag free drift, fly selection, ect) that having the best (most expensive?) equipment won’t help you one bit.
So when will you need an equipment upgrade? My answer is that you will know. Whenever you stop thinking about the cast and just do it naturally. When you start getting good drifts more often than not. When you are spending more time with your fly in the water than with your fly in the tree. When you fish for hours and suddenly realize that you haven’t lost a fly. All these things are small signs of a proficiency in the basics of fly fishing. Start getting the small things right on a routine basis and then you can make the great cast with a sweet rod, or get a hookup with 6X tippet without breaking off more often than not. A nice reel with a disc drag will only help you minimize breakoffs if you get rid of all the other jerky reasons first. But when that time comes it will be nice not to lose a fish just because your reel was balky.
For a good all around rod I would recommend a five weight, maybe 8′ to 8’6″ (with matching five weight, weight forward floating line). I would go graphite of course, but not worry too much about high modulus. Any reel that holds line will do, click and pawl drag is just fine. You will be able to work with the small flys OK, and also pitch some heavy ones. You will know when you could have got just that much farther out with a heavier rod, or placed it just right with a finer touch, or could have kept that fish if the drag had been just a little smoother.
In my experience, I used my beater rod for several years, probably 80 trips, maybe 200 hours on the water, before I started hankering for something better. Of course, I am a slow learner.
I’ve got four rods that I use regularly – two prepositioned in France and two in Ligonier. You could classify all four outfits as being low quality rods and reels.
In France I have a 9′ seven weight that I use for lakes and a 8.5′ five weight that I use for streams. Both rods have the particularity of having about 2″ of their tips broken off, the result of numerous road trips where I’ve had accidents loading and unloading. Note to self: you really need to invest in a carrying case. I’ve repaired both of them but undoubtably their performance characteristics have been altered. One I fixed by attaching a new tip, the metal part only, which makes it actually a 8′ 4.5″ rod. The other rod I was able to insert a sewing needle in the hollow part of both pieces and superglue them together. The needle has just about the right amount of rigidity.
In Ligonier, I have a 8.5′ five weight rod and a 7.5″ three weight that I bought for use at small creeks around Ligonier. In the debate as to whether a short rod is better than a longer rod in the midst of a small stream that has difficult access, I’ve still not decided which is the better suited. I like a long rod so that I have better reach and have sufficient stand-off range to not be seen by wary natives. I like a short rod for its maneuverability and sensitivity.
Over the years as I’ve collected these four rods, I’ve always rationalized that an expensive rod and reel is just not justified for the potential gains in performance. That may be because I’ve never fished with a really nice rod and don’t know what I’m missing.
Getting a new rod still remains somewhat a mystery to me. It can be a big investment (unless you build your own – more to follow!). Everybody says to make sure to try them out before buying, but how much can you learn by some casting behind the tackle shop, if even that is possible? Each rod will have a different kind of flex based on the weight, type of graphite, length, and quality of construction. So even if you have a great rod, it will feel “different” when you start using it, and “different” usually doesn’t mean great right away. It may take awhile to adjust to the flex and get the stroke down. It may become your favorite rod, but the first time you use it it will just be different. When I bought the Orvis rod a few years ago (off the clearance rack) it was the first time I had used a very flexible rod. Now I really love it, but it took some time for me to adjust to it. I suppose very experienced fisherman can just dial in a stroke after a few tries, but it takes me awhile to change.
All that makes shelling out the big bucks quite a risk, and can easily lead to buyer’s remorse when the trout don’t start lining up to be caught on your new rod. But I am pretty sure that if you pay good money you will just about always get a quality rod. I also think that sometimes you can get a high quality rod without spending the big bucks. That is the slot I am aiming for.