[ProfessorLongArms]

Originally Posted by Fishon14

I believe that the Owens river is open year around

Originally Posted by dgarland10

The Owens, both Upper and Lower, Hot Creek are open year around. Be aware of road conditions if trying to fish the Upper Owens or Hot Creek. A lot of guys snow shoe or snowmobile in during the winter.

OK cool, good to know! I might start playing around up there between rockfish closer and the spring.

Originally Posted by tomahawk

After 45 years of spinners, bait casters, and conventional setups, I tried fly fishing for the first time a few years ago on a trip to Yellowstone. Summer 2019, I got a guide to take me and my wife in Sequoia NP. She had a blast (and so did I). Now we are pretty much hooked but don't really know jack. I was going to take a class in March at the LBCC, recommended by Tigermidge but it cancelled due to COVID. We ended up taking a casting class on the Kern River. We also took a pack train trip to the Kern River right before the SQF fire. A blast but man was I sore from the horses. We have been to many creeks this year with some success mostly tiny fish in the 5 to 7 inch range. In October we took a guided trip on the Lower Owens, I caught between 20 and 25 browns and rainbows between 9 and 16 inches. All on a half day trip. My wife caught about 10 but lost another 10. She had an absolute blast. We went back this past weekend and fished the lower for about 4 hours Saturday and explored looking for other access further south on Sunday. I got 4 browns Saturday 10 to 12 inches. Shut out Sunday. The weather was fantastic, which is why we went Saturday.
My wife found and purchased a used Reddington crosswater 5wt, Rod and Reel for $40.00, didn't even ask me. Before I even had my own fly rod. I found an ECHO Base 5wt on Offer Up for $40 in Pasadena and bought that. I have a ancient Cortland clicker fly reel that someone gave to me 40 years ago. I put line on it and have caught 40 to 50 fish on it. Nothing big but good enough for the type of fishing I am doing. I am going to upgrade to a new reel this Christmas. I know less than zero about fly rods but for what I am doing the gear we have is fine.
I got back yesterday at 5PM and I am already thinking about going back, I got it bad. I think my ideal trip will be 4 to 5 days. Fishing a day on the lower, a day on the upper (never fished there), and a day at hot creek (been there but did not fish). I am really interested in trying a drift trip on the lower too. I am also considering taking a Jeep trip on the south fork of the Kern (more expensive than the pack train). Good thing my wife is hooked too. I have started thinking about trying to complete the heritage trout challenge. I have three of the six needed already, although my picture of my Golden sucks, so I will need to go do that again.
So far I used guides 4 times, Montana, Pack Train, Sequoia NP, and Lower Owens. I have been really happy because I have learned a lot about techniques, things I would never figure out on my own. One really nice thing is with my background, I pick up things quick. I can have the guide set me up and point me in the right direction and then spent 90% of his time showing my wife what to do. Works perfect, I always tell them in advance, "If she has fun I will get to fish more".
Good luck with gear and limiting expenses.
Tom

That sounds amazing. I wish I could get my wife into fishing. Maybe she'll take to fly fishing Those prices sound ridiculous. I might have to set up a few alerts while I'm not *itching to get out and see if anything turns up like that. 40 bucks for that rig, and I'd have a hard time saying no myself. Also good tip on the guides. I always used to love stopping into mountain fly shops in north GA and learning the spots.

Originally Posted by monstahfish

I'll second what the last guy said, buy used if you're on a budget and just starting out. There's a lot of good gear out there on the cheap and for the price of a new orvis rig, you can get a 4 for the streams and a 6 weight for the bay and streams and rivers with larger fish. I'd then recommend spending money on getting the right lines. for the bay, I'd get a 250 grain full sink. I like airflo but rio and others are good too. For the 4 I'd get a good high float line maybe even an indicator taper as it will make nymph fishing easier and fish are eating nymphs almost all the time. Another thing to consider, for the 6 weight, if you can find a reel with a spare spool or the spool is still in production, do that. This will allow you to have a floating line as well for fishing XL trout like on the upper owens in the winter and if the rod is a good fast action, it will probably work fine for steelhead. I've been catching stripers on my 6 wt the last few weeks but they've mostly been small.

Originally Posted by JasonG

My 2 cents... you're going to end up adjusting your budget if you get back into this, Ha.

All good advice so far, a 9' 5wt is your standard "do-everything" trout fishing rod, but it will feel like overkill on small streams. Personally, I like a 3-4wt for Easter Sierra streams, and a 5wt on larger rivers, lakes, or if I need to throw heavier streamers for big trout. I just have more fun fishing trout on lighter gear.

The rod and fly line is definitely where you want to put your money for lighter setups, the reel just holds line when trout fishing. BUT... if you get into saltwater species on the fly with a heavier setup, you'll want to invest in a good reel with a sealed drag that can handle powerful runs.

I bought rods in this order as I got back into this obsession... 5wt, 4wt, 8wt, 7wt, 10wt. The 8wt from a kayak for Calico is a blast!

If I did it over again, I'd buy the following, in whatever order suits your fishing preferences:
4wt (all-around trout), 6wt (streamers, windy conditions, light saltwater-surf fishing), 8wt (steelhead/salmon, all-around saltwater - kelp beds), 10wt (Yellowtail/Dorado). You could also go 3, 5, 7, 9... endless choices, LOL.

Thanks to both of you for such specific and detailed info! I really love this forum and I appreciate you helping me out. This gives me a great point of departure and something to keep an eye out for.