Disclaimer

Wading and cold water

Wading is the real hazard in fly fishing, and nothing on this site substitutes for judgement on the bank. The force moving water exerts on your legs scales with the square of the current velocity, so water that looks only slightly faster is dramatically harder to stand in, and moving water at knee depth can take a strong adult off their feet. Cold shock on entry, not hypothermia, is the immediate danger, and fine motor control disappears within minutes of going in. Wear a wading belt cinched snug at the waist every time you wear chest waders, face upstream, move one foot at a time without crossing your feet, and if you are unsure of a crossing, do not make it.

We publish general safety guidance because it is genuinely useful and widely under-taught. We cannot and do not assess the safety of any specific water, on any specific day, at any specific flow. River conditions change with rainfall, dam releases, snowmelt, temperature and season, and a crossing that was routine last week can be lethal today. If you are new to wading, go with somebody experienced, hire a guide, or fish from the bank.

Regulations are your responsibility, not ours

Licences, seasons, bag limits, gear restrictions, access rules and equipment bans vary by state, province, county and often by individual stretch of water, and they change. That includes the felt sole bans referenced throughout this site: felt holds water and transports invasive organisms including didymo and whirling disease between watersheds, and felt soles are prohibited in several jurisdictions as a result. We tell you that the bans exist. We do not maintain a current list of which jurisdictions they apply to, and you must confirm the rules with the agency that manages the water you intend to fish before you buy boots or wet a line.

Not professional instruction

Nothing here is casting instruction, guiding, coaching, safety training, medical advice, financial advice or legal advice. Fly casting in particular is a physical skill that is learned far faster from a person standing beside you than from any article, and a single lesson from a certified instructor will do more for you than every guide on this site put together. We say that plainly because it is true.

Gear specifications

Every specification quoted here is the manufacturer's published figure or a published industry standard unless we explicitly say otherwise. Manufacturers revise specifications between model years without notice, product lines are discontinued and renamed, and published figures are sometimes simply wrong. Confirm any figure that matters to your purchase on the manufacturer's current page before you rely on it.

Where a specification is not published consistently, we leave the row out rather than guess. A missing figure on this site means we could not verify it. Where a figure genuinely varies, such as tippet breaking strength by material and brand, or knot strength by test protocol, we publish a range and say why rather than printing a false precision.

We do not test gear in person

We compare published manufacturer specifications, published industry standards and verified owner reviews across multiple retailers. We do not conduct physical product testing and we never present ourselves as having done so. Where we describe how something casts or fishes, we are summarising what owners consistently report, not reporting a verdict of our own.

Prices, availability and totals

Prices and stock change constantly and are set by the retailer, not by us. Every price shown here was accurate when the page was compiled and may be wrong by the time you read it. The running totals on the complete setups are the sum of those prices at the time of writing, and they are given so you can compare tiers rather than as a quotation. Confirm every line on the retailer's own page before ordering.

Where an item is dealer-controlled and has no verifiable online price, it is shown as "See price" and excluded from the total, with the street band stated in the prose. We would rather show a total you can verify line by line than one built partly on a guess.

Fish handling

We publish general catch and release guidance: rubber mesh rather than knotted nylon, wet hands, minimal air exposure, no contact with gills, and stopping when water temperature is high enough that a released fish is unlikely to recover. This is general guidance and not a substitute for local rules, which in some waters mandate or prohibit specific practices.

Limitation of liability

FlyFishingSetup.com is provided on an "as is" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, and accept no liability for any loss, injury or damage arising from the use of this site or from reliance on any information published here. Your use of this site is at your own risk, and any decision you make about equipment, wading or fishing is your own.

Corrections

If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it. Corrections are the most useful mail we get. Contact us. See also our research method, the affiliate disclosure, the privacy policy and the terms of service.