mdk77 wrote:
My 14 year old son and I would like to try fly fishing. The nearest
fly fishing club is about 50 miles away so there isn't a local place to
go for help (I live in downstate Illinois). There isn't a fly fishing
store near here either.

Near or far a fly shop is your best bet for gear and advice.

http://www.midwesttroutfishing.com/i...isAllShops.asp

I've never been to Fly Fisher's Outfit in Springfield but I've
visited their booth at Outdoors Shows here and they know their
stuff. There's a couple of fly shops in St. Louis that are good,

http://www.feather-craft.com/flyshop.asp

and

http://www.thargrove.com/

snip
From our reading we feel like we now understand what equipment we need
to catch the fish we're targeting. But we need advice on where to get
a decent deal on affordable equipment (like a lot of people we're on a
limited budget). I've read in this group about Cabella's, TFO, Bass
Pro and Orvis being places to check out starter equipment -- and we've
done that. But we were wondering about "used" equipment. Is that a
way to go?

Forget the used stuff until you know what you like.

It will be well worth the trip for you and your son to visit a
fly shop at least once before you take the plunge. If the sales
staff tries to talk you into the expensive stuff you can walk
out no worse for the wear but you stand a better chance of being
able to glean a lot of info in a short amount of time in a fly
shop than by reading books or watching videos.

My $.02, and worth every penny. ;-)

Oh, be sure to get sunglasses for the both of you and never cast
a fly line with a hook attached without wearing them.

--
Ken Fortenberry