My son bought his first fly rod combo about 5 years ago.. 20 at the time
His advice to me after that , was never to buy a cheap one.
He hasn't used it in nearly 5 years.
Too difficult to use, and can't get any distance with it.


What part of the country are you from Mutley?
Aart

Mutley,
I'm a mad keen Bass nut & regularily use a fly outfit on them,
My advice would be not to go too light!

Most trout outfits are around 4-5 weight because trout spook easily & you are only casting small light flies,
Bass are attracted to a bit of comotion as you probably already know, so you will want to be chucking big fluffy flies & for this you will need 8 weight or above!!

I use a 10 weight & can get a big fluffy Dalburg out to about 35M or more (the full length of the flyline & a bit of backing), look at the best you can possably afford & then buy one you can't
Good fly rods are not cheap, but you can get away with a cheap reel because the reel does nothing but hold line when not in use.

Buy a weight forward line to match the weight of the rod you buy & it will cast well & get good distance, just don't expect to be laying out nice casts for a while, it takes some practice,
What really got me casting was my Brother showed me how to do "Shooter Casts" & then "Double shooters" Made a big difference!

Most of all, take your time & enjoy it, it is very rewarding to "feel" the fish the way you do on a nice soft fly rig & feel him tugging on the line in your left hand!! but can be horribly frustrating when you are getting hung up in trees on your back cast & generally trying to rush it.

Cheers, Mick.