Vittorix wrote:

thanks but I live in Chicago downtown, Italy is too far away from me now
:-(

Whoops. It was the libero.it email address that derailed me....

(how much I miss the sea ....)

Where are you from?

grazie altrettanto a te!
how do you know so much Italian?

I lived in Rome for a couple of years. "So much", though, grossly
exaggerates my competence.

About the set-up, since you're in the U.S., perhaps you could go to
http://www.ezflyfish.com/index.html and look at the 4-piece Sage Launch
rods (very decent rods for the price, good beginner's rods). The
proprietor of the site is a ROFF old-timer and highly reputable.

BTW, that's an interesting fly you designed there. Appears better suited
for sal****er maybe than for the Mid-West. Sort of a psychedelic shrimp
pattern. :-) As Wolfgang said, you'll only know its effectiveness,
though, by testing it. What size hook did you tie it on?

JR