Okay, I got my hands on some gear today. I found a couple names I fish with now, namely St. Croix and Pflueger, so I tried them out. Pflueger had a 4 weight, that was 7.5' long that felt great, It reminded me of an ultralight spinning rod. They also had a 5 weight that was 8.5' long, that felt almost as good. The st. Croix was a 5/6, and it was also 8.5' long. I could definitely tell it had more "backbone?" to it. Can I assume that since the general recommendation was to stick with the 5/6 that it would be easier to learn on? What about length? I tend to gravitate to the shorter rods, probably because that's what I've always fished with. Is a longer rod easier to manage? The reels I looked at really didn't look all that different from one another. There must be some internal improvements that account for the price differential. I like the idea of a sinking fly, or lure. Since the line floats, does the length of the leader determine the ultimate depth the fly will sink to? From a fisherman who goes to great lengths to find line that's nearly invisible, the thought of flourescent green or orange floating line seems counter productive. I assume that's to make it more visual for the angler's benefit. I know it's a lot of questions to ask, I honestly have no clue. I'm going to spend some time online researching, so I'm bound to find some of the answers, and develop new questions. Thanks for all the help, I appreciate everyones' patience.
