Must be carbon fiber rod.E-glass all the way, learned my lesson no carbon fiber rod for me .
Handle the fish you catch,lightly feel their fins,get to know which ones to avoid .You can squeeze a fish behind the head and it more or less paralyses the fish.
Side cutters to cut the barb off of the hook if you get hooked deep.Push it on out then cut the barb off and back the hook out.
It doesn't matter until you hook into the biggest fish you ever had on your line,then it matters.You could be kicking yourself for buying cheap flies and losing that fish or saying glad I spent the extra money for this fly I might have lost this huge fish on a cheap fly.
I live in Texas but I go after catfish. Lower Mississippi river,the Arkansas river,and lots of lakes and ponds.
If I could only fly fish I would stop fishing
Thats easy buy American for a multitude of reasons.
All the guides in Colorado got together and agreed fly fishing only on their guided trips.I think that is just wrong.I use spinners and can catch 3 to a fly fishermans 1,because I can stand in one spot and cover sixty feet of river.
I would buy used boat as big as you can afford.The small boats are the ones that get you into trouble. The motor is a major cost so keep the engine size on the lower side and get great gas miles.
Bottom line the baitcasting reel is more comfortable to use than a spinning reel.Spinning reels are awkward compared to a baitcasting reel.
Leave the big fish they lay many times the eggs the smaller fish do