Seaborn Outfitters is a Texas brand of fly fishing, and we’re proud of that. In our infancy, we set out to determine what would be the best affordable fly rods and the best value fly reels for Texas anglers. Texas is like a whole other country, and in some real sense that’s actually true. A large network of lakes, bayous, rivers, and coastal fisheries blanket the Lone Star state and provide fishermen with enough water and opportunities to last a lifetime. So what gear is needed to catch Lake Texoma striped bass or Rio Grande cichlids and Guadalupe Bass in the hill country? And what’s the best fly rod and reel outfit for inshore redfish and gator trout from Galveston to South Padre Island? After considering our state’s unique fisheries and all of the quarry we could possibly chase, we determined we could provide the fly angler with two initial series of fly rods and one solid fly reel in various sizes to land near any fish within The Banner State.TRIBUTARY SERIESThis rod is the perfect tool for small streams or small to shmedium sized fish. Shmedium seems like an official way to describe certain categories of fish, right? In all seriousness, the Tributary rod boasts all kinds of features that make chasing sandbass, stocker trout, perch and other small stream fish a total blast. Anglers can choose this rod in either a 5wt or 6wt. The blank is IM10 SK Carbon in our Green Water color with Copper Brown thread wraps. It has a two-toned, Grade AA, reverse half-wells cork handle and black aluminum, up-locking reel seat. Chrome coated stripping guides with oversized snake guides and tip top and handy alignment dots finish out the aesthetics of the rod, and each rod purchased comes with its own carbon fiber rod tube. Its medium action has a real “trouty” feel to it for those who have spent time chasing any number of salmonid species across the country, making roll casts and dry fly techniques a breeze. For the novice fly fisherman, this rod gives you plenty of feel for proper timing in your casting stroke, but gives plenty of backbone to fight fish once they’re on. The Tributary rod retails at $249. BRAKWATER SERIESCall it a streamer rod, call it a meat pole, call it whatever you’d like. Just don’t call it late for dinner. Our Brakwater fly rod is a workhorse for casting to and catching larger Texas fish. Designed specifically for saltwater fly fishing and the Texas inshore, this rod has quickly become a favorite for a variety of scenarios including chasing carp and gar on Lake Ray Roberts, to chunking 7” streamers on the White River all the way up in Arkansas. Listen, if it’s good enough for Texas, it’s good enough for everywhere else, too! Brakwater rods come in 7-10wt and the features include a IM10 30T+40TSK carbon blank in Shark Grey with orange thread wraps. Our two-toned, Grade AA, full-wells cork handle with a 2.5” extended fighting butt is perfect for picking up lots of line off the water to lay back down longer casts. It’s also a great point of leverage for fighting those bullish reds. The rod also features heavy duty black aluminum, up-locking reel seat, and Fuji’s Alconite ring guides with oversized snake guides and tip-top. Alignment dots are a must, and like our Tributary Series, each Brakwater rod comes standard with a carbon fiber rod tube. The rod boasts a medium-fast action which gives the caster plenty of punch to throw big flies far, but enough feel to dump quick, short casts to those sneaky reds right around the boat. Retail price ranges from $249-259.REELSFor each rod series, we have the reel to compliment it. We manufacturer a single fully machined aluminum reel in multiple sizes with matching color schemes to our rods. The reels feature, again, a fully machined aluminum frame with large arbors for faster line pick up. It has a 100% sealed carbon disc drag that easily converts from left to right hand retrieve. A neoprene reel cover is included with the reel. At the time of this article, retail price ranges from $249-259.