Finishing Up the Orvis Clearwater Combo

I ran across this Orvis Clearwater rod at the Cabela's in Wichita, Kansas.

Here's an Orvis Clearwater combo that I also saw at the Cabela's in Wichita.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about an Orvis Clearwater fly rod that I picked up at Cargo Largo.  I finished assembling the outfit with an Orivis Battenkill III reel and some Scientific Anglers fly line.  Out of curiosity and for fun, I did a little research to find out how much money I saved by assembling the outfit myself.  I got a good deal on the rod, saved some money on the reel by buying it used (which you can barely tell), and used an Amazon gift card on the fly line.  Soon, I will writing a follow-up post on how the setup performs on the water.

1. Orvis Clearwater Rod- $130- Cargo Largo- Cash.  This rod retails for $200

2. Used Orvis Battenkill III size 5/6- $100- Rainbow Fly Shop.  This reel retails for $189 on basspro.com.  

3. Scientific Anglers Mastery Infinity fly line- $15 after gift card use.  Orvis Clearwater fly line retails for $50 at Orvis and basspro.com.  

4. I spent a total of $245 and got an upgraded reel as well as upgraded fly line.  The combo with an Orvis Clearwater Reel and Orvis Clearwater fly line retails for $376 at Bass Pro, Cabela's, and on Amazon.  If you add up all of the components separately, the retail price is $439.  

I used an Albright knot to connect the fly line to the backing.  There are some great tutorials on YouTube that show how to tie this knot.  It's actually a pretty simple knot to learn and tie.