Ok---first off, right up front, I don't flyfish. My buddy Brad tried to teach me to cast, and he continually bribes me with free plugs to keep me from advertising that fact
I'm a certified menace---mostly to myself---with a fly rod in my hands. But, I have a few friends that are good fly fishermen.
You will see guys using rods from 8 wt to 11 wt, with a 9 or 10 being the most versatile. Cortland used to have a pretty decent fly rod for the buck, but that was 10 years ago and I don't know what their quality is now. I think the reel that gives you the best bang for the buck is the Sci Angler, at around $200. But, since you set your range for the outfit at less than that figure, I would say, the only one worth mentioning is the Pflueger Medalist. 1495/1595 or 1498/1598. The difference between the "14"'s and "15"'s is the 15s have an exposed rim that's easier to palm for a little added drag. The Medalists have a mechanical clicker-type drag, mediocre at best. I had a 1495 for about 3 weeks before it and the Cortland rod it was on were "liberated" from the roof of my Trooper while I was getting a coffee in Cumberland Farms. This was at the Vineyard, so why they took that instead of the custom Lami graphite with a Newell 235 on it made sense at the time---someone over there once asked me, when they saw the Newell, if I couldn't afford a "modern reel".
Lines? No clue. My friends usually carry a spare spool--they'll carry both a floating and intermediate sinking line. Backing is usually some sort of Spectra braid these days.
I'll leave the rest to the guys who know what they're talking about, except to say, if you're going to fish from the surf or in current, you'll live to regret it if you think you can get by without a stripping basket.
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