07-10-2012, 09:21 PM
Coming from one broke student to another, even if it means wet wading a few more times or using your fanny pack a few more times buy the best you can afford. Otherwise you will be replacing it again shortly down the road.
For waders: Not sure what your budget is but my last pair was a pair of Hodgman Breathable boot foot hip waders. $30 at walmart and they gave me 1 year of dry fishing 1 year of damp fishing 1 year of wet fishing and this spring they filled and equalized with the river my first trip out. For $30 they served me well but just last month I bit the bullet and bought a pair of Simms Blackfoot waders and Simms Freestone Boots. Boy oh boy these things are sweet! VERY comfortable and make wading on rocky stream beds a lot easier and IMHO safer.
Vest: If your fanny pack works use it, I have a vest and a fanny. Sure the vest is handy because I can organize but on warm days the fanny pack is nice. My vest cost around $30 at Bass Pro. IMHO get one with a mesh back, mine has the mesh back and it is plenty hot I cant imagine a non-mesh one.
Reel: cant comment, I only have two fly rods, one is sporting a $30-$40 Cabelas fly reel and my newest one as of this winter has a Ross FlyRise. Okuma does seem to turn out some decent budget priced reels. My cousin has one that came on a cheap $80 combo rod/reel and it has caught quite a few fish including a bunch of carp that have worked its drag. Ontop of that he has not taken care of the reel and it still performs pretty good.
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For waders: Not sure what your budget is but my last pair was a pair of Hodgman Breathable boot foot hip waders. $30 at walmart and they gave me 1 year of dry fishing 1 year of damp fishing 1 year of wet fishing and this spring they filled and equalized with the river my first trip out. For $30 they served me well but just last month I bit the bullet and bought a pair of Simms Blackfoot waders and Simms Freestone Boots. Boy oh boy these things are sweet! VERY comfortable and make wading on rocky stream beds a lot easier and IMHO safer.
Vest: If your fanny pack works use it, I have a vest and a fanny. Sure the vest is handy because I can organize but on warm days the fanny pack is nice. My vest cost around $30 at Bass Pro. IMHO get one with a mesh back, mine has the mesh back and it is plenty hot I cant imagine a non-mesh one.
Reel: cant comment, I only have two fly rods, one is sporting a $30-$40 Cabelas fly reel and my newest one as of this winter has a Ross FlyRise. Okuma does seem to turn out some decent budget priced reels. My cousin has one that came on a cheap $80 combo rod/reel and it has caught quite a few fish including a bunch of carp that have worked its drag. Ontop of that he has not taken care of the reel and it still performs pretty good.
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