Andy if you’re new at fly fishing don’t spend an arm and a leg on a rod such as a loomis until you’ve developed a good casting technique.

Unlike coarse rods if you pick the wrong fly rod it can cause more problems than what it’s worth as the faster actioned fly rods will amplify any flaws in your casting technique and timing which if you are inexperienced will cause you nightmares on the bank, not only with casting but tangles and presentation.

The best way I can relate to it is giving an inexperienced pole angler a top of the range maver pole for carp fishing.

If you’ve set your heart on a quality fly rod and reel combination look at a second hand Daiwa Alltmor on ebay, (I picked two near new models up for less then £80 including P&P, RRP £400+). They are a very good crisp smooth progressive actioned rod that will let you get away with minor timing errors.

Alternatively look at some of the Greys and Vision fly rods but see if you can try before you buy.

Reel wise the Shakespeare Trion is one of the best value top of the range reels. It may be slughtly heavier than some but it smacks of quality and is very robust.

Andy I can really recommend the Greys Platinum XD rods and you can pick them up at a very good price. I use a 10′ 8# for most of my my fishing and even with my limited casting I can get good distances out of it.
As far as reels go I like cassette type reels. A lot of lads use the Vision Koma reels and they are very good but I just prefer cassette type as it makes it easier to change lines.
The Hardy Angel is a work of art but expensive. Personally I use a Snowbee XSD which is very tough but not too heavy. At the bottom end of the scale a lot of people use the Scierra Avalnche or the equivalent Okuma model. These are very cheap and do the job and are what I use for my salt water fly fishing and piking.
If you want some cheap lines I have a source who can get them. I bought some Airflo 40+ Di3 and Di7 lines off him plus some Greys Platinum floater and some excellent midge tips which I cant remember the name of very cheaply.

As for top end Maver poles they are superb! ~clap