PNW Fly Fishing Rod/Gear List

Hello r/flyfishing

I'm in it deep now. My fly fishing journey has brought me to this point… I want a big ol' spey rod; I want to catch a salmon & steelhead one day. But there's a bigger question, how much more do I need to cover my fishing bases?

A bit of background, I started with fly fishing in 2023 via Tenkara (TenkaraUSA Satoki) and wanting to catch some fish hiking/backpacking alpine lakes. I learned quickly this actually wasn't a great fit and I had much more success in small streams. Still the dream lived on and I found a 9' 5wt (cortland) on FB marketplace–it's a two piece and still quite hard to hike with into an alpine lake.

My first actual fly rod purchase was this Aventik 10'3" 3wt 6 piece rod for taking up on hikes. By this time it's winter. I still haven't taken the dang thing on a hike. I learned at some point that most euro nymphing rods are at least 10' long–so I dive down that rabbit hole. I learned in my last post that I could even try some single-hand spey casting with this little rod & I followed some advice there and INDEED, I can chuck this 150grain skagit head around!

Additionally, sea-run cutthroat trout are a unique fishery to my area so I've been using some different lines to fish for those with my 5wt.

It's been a great, fun journey. Admittedly, I wish my interest in fishing wasn't peaking in winter, but alas, I get to do some prep here. Here's my current gear list:

– TenkaraUSA Satoki

– Aventik 10'3" 3wt, 6piece; stock reel with WF line; 5wt reel with rio slickshooter base & I can switch to a airflo 150grain head or my euro nymping leader

– Cortland 9' 5/6wt with 3 reels; weight forward floating, intermediate, and sinking lines.

Finally, I wanted to get to the root of my question… I just want to fish in a variety of ways. I don't want to spend a large sum of money to get the fanciest things–that can happen one day once I've really solidified what kind of fishing I like. For example, I will probably invest in a nice 6wt all-purpose rod one day. With the addition of wanting to go for salmon/steelhead and my imperfect sea-run cutthroat fishing, I was thinking of these as my next two purchases:

– This Aventik 13'6" 8/9wt I like because it has 6-sections VS this maxcatch 13' 8/9wt also 6 pieces: for salmon & steelhead; if possible i would like to understand which skagit/scandi head grains to get for these. I'd like to try a number of weights using cheap options before I for an integrated line

– Either Maxcatch Predator vs. Saltpro in 8wt for sea-run cutthroat and just slinging bigger flies for things like bass one day.

I think a tenkara, 3wt, 5wt, 8wt and large spey rig would cover all my bases, right? Right………?

What do I like so far? I like it all…. except indicator fishing for whatever reason–it just does not inspire. But swinging, streamers, tightlining, dry flies, SIGN ME UP

I hope no one curses me for seeking budget options.

Thank you for your insights!