[bcbrown2]

Howdy there. I'm a little late to the conversation but found myself in exactly the same situation last season. I picked up a cheapy 5wt rod and reel from a guide shop in Utah on vacation last summer when I wanted to get back into fly fishing on a whim and when I got home I fished enough to justify picking up 'serious' tackle.

On advise from our local shop, I kept my 5wt through the season and picked up my first 'nice' system -- a Sage Launch 3wt 7'6" and a Ross CLA 1 for fishing the little water near my home in Colorado. Although that's the 'cheap' gear from those companies it's a fantastic system and one I'm not likely to ever want to replace for many years to come and I have a choice of tackle now, depending on the water I plan to fish.

Today, though, I find myself coming back to a new 5wt rig since I donated both of my old 5wt (one Wal-Mart beginner pack from 5 years ago and the 'new' 5wt rig from the summer) setups to our local TU chapter's kids program. I've all but settled on staying with Sage and Ross but moving up to a 9' 5wt FLi.

My fishing partner uses an Albright 8' 5wt and loves it. I've got a thing about 'made in the USA' and, for the minimal price increase for the rod (and big increase on the reel) I went that route.

Just my $.32
-Cheers!