So it has been a year since I have started fly fishing. That would mean it has been a year using this fly rod combo from Cabela's. This is the Cabela's RLS+ fly fishing combo. It comes with the Cabela's brand RLS+ rod, reel, and hard carrying case. The fly line is advertised as "premium" or their best quality line. I will come back to that.
I started using this rod and is the same rod that I have had for the year. I caught many fish and it does great for me. The cost is $320.00, but it is typically on sale. Right now it is on sale for $150.00. This is a great deal. I recommend this combo to anyone wanting to take a stab at fly fishing. It is not the best quality, but I had a thought process before buying this. I knew that I loved fishing and that I wanted to try fly fishing. What if I turned out to not like fly fishing? If I would have spent a ton of money on a rod, reel, line, etc; I would have regretted the purchase. At the same time one has to look at buying too cheap of a combo could ruin your experience at learning to fly fish and steer you away. So in my approach to the sport of fly fishing I believed that this was truly the best idea for me.
The rod is great. It is strong and has a good action to it. I thoroughly enjoy this rod. I will upgrade one day, but right now I am in school and this rod works for me. Its held up strong on fish and even snags. We had a buddy get his fly line caught in a tree with a $900 orvis rod and snapped it. That could have been more his fault, not saying orvis is bad at making rods or anything. I will say that I kept my receipt from my purchase and almost a year later I had to exchange the fly fishing combo. The rod had not broken and probably would have held up, but there were some very tiny fractures where the rod ends connect to each other. This concerned me and I knew with Cabela's I had a year to exchange the combo so I did. This does not mean the rod is bad. I think it was a manufacturer defect, because I had never heard anyone complain of this before. So don't let the rod steer you away.
The reel is smooth and attractive looking. It has a drag knob on the side that works great. It allows me to pull line out smoothly and reel it up smoothly. The drag is strong when I need it to be and loose when I need it to be. The braking is nice. The body is made out of an attractive gunmetal gray aluminum. It is light weight and a great fit for this combo.
Now to the fly line. When I first got the combo the line has been nothing but great. There had been many reviews on Cabela's website that the fly line is awful. Well the first combo I bought offered great line. I got lots of fishing from it, and thoroughly enjoyed it. After I exchanged the combo from the fractures in the rod connections I had a new combo. Meaning I had new line. I feel like Cabela's put cheaper quality line on it. I have fished it once, but I never remember my old fly line kinking up and being well "janky." I don't know if it was because it was so cold when I first fished it last week, but my old line never acted this way in the past even when I fished when it was colder. I might add new line to the combo kit that I received from my exchange. The memory just would not work its way out of the line. I might try stretching it before fishing it if I don't put new line on it first. Don't let the line steer you away from the combo. It could be the cheapest part to fix when you have a great rod and reel.
There is not much for me to say about the case. Except it is a case. It is hard and zips up at the end of the it. The case allows you to keep the reel on the rod which is always nice. It protects the fly rod well.
Overall this fly fishing combo had served me well in my first year of fly fishing. I wanted to do another review since last time I did a review I had fished about 3 times with the combo. Now I have a better review for others to take away information from. This combo is not the greatest, but it is not the worst. I enjoy it. I would recommend this to the first time fly fisherman wanting to get into the sport, but that might have doubts about sticking with it. Do NOT buy this combo full price. It is on sale most of the year between $150-$180. So wait until it is on sale to buy it if you decide to go with it. I hope this review helps shed some light on this combo kit if you have been looking for a combo fly fishing kit to start out with. Either way I will use it for quite some time. Also always remember TIGHTLINES!
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