Pulling the trigger

[beachbum2]

Good Afternoon. I have spent the last 2 days watching spey and switch videos like crazy.....it's insane and I think I have found my new passion/addiction. What I need to know and I am looking for are any comments and/or suggestions regarding gear? However, I DO NOT want to break the bank, nor do I want cheap. I am looking at a Eddington Dually or Prospector paired w a Lamson ARX. Comments/suggestions? ANY help would be fantastic.

[Rick J]

many options out there - the two you picked are likely good as would be TFO, ECHO and some of Gary Anderson's rods. It would help to know what you are targeting and where - winter or summer and location as not all models in all brands are necessarily good - some shine, others not so much

[DAVID95670]

get a lamson litespeed cheaper and awesome

go into kiene shop they have a couple of the ross reach speys on discount and they are excellent

[troutless]

All of the above advice is good.

There really is a huge advantage going into a shop that knows their stuff. You want your reel not only to fit your line -- guessing this is not trivial for someone new to spey, the lines take more room than you might think -- but you want the reel to balance the rod properly. Not to mention getting properly set up with lines, tips, leaders, which is, IMO, more important and trickier to navigate than the rod/reel choice. And Kiene's is by far the best in CA for spey. Don't go elsewhere. Just. Don't.

Having said that you could call up someone like Gary Anderson who can provide you with a complete setup also. The ACR Nova is a fine entry level rod.

[JasonB]

It's all down hill from here on out, consider your bank account broken...
Seriously though, you're in for a lot of fun, and the advice so far is all good stuff. I'll second Troutless's point about the line/tip/leader being more important and more complex to sort out than the rod/reel. The same rod can perform very differently with a number of different line options, doing a lot more research on that end of the purchase is a good idea. There's a very good chance you'll end up like a lot of us with a wide range of line options, though you really don't need to go that route especially if you do some homework upfront. Not sure if you roll your own, but you can save a few bucks by building one yourself. I've built a couple myself from anglers roost, and a switch rod from Bob Meiser which I can't say enough good stuff about. If you can even think about affording some casting lessons, do it! You'll be glad you did.
Enjoy,
JB

[Rmacneil656]

I'm a bit notorious for inexpensive equipment (I don't like to call it "cheap"). Would I love a new sage method? Yes. Can I afford a sage Method? No..... Remember, prestigious expensive equipment does not mean you will catch more fish. Save the money on the equipment and learn to cast like JB said.

Try not to get to confused with all of the equipment options. Read some of Ed Wards stuff, ie this article: http://www.speypages.com/speyclave/s...ad.php?t=45149
He is saying with 1 rod and a matching skagit line, one sink tip and 3 flies you can do very well. He's probably caught more steel head on the swing than most our board members combined.

Also watch todd moen fall run and winter run a bagillion times if you haven't already.