I second the vote for local shops. It's awful tough to resist the alure of a shiny new Offshore catalog in the middle of winter, and i admit that i have ordered from them in the past. I find that the stuff I buy on impulse like that collects in the bottom of my tackle box half the time. I spoke with the guys at Eastman's two weeks ago about a starter fly fishing set up. (St. Croix rod, Pfleuger Medalist Something reel + line). They told me that they have a sale the first 2 weeks in May. I'm going to try to hold out that long. It's tough.