Steelhead setup

Hmmm. If I were you, I would nothing under a 7 weight. a reel that has a good drag is essential.

Have you looked at the combos at fish usa? Click on the tackleshop link on this site, click on rod & reel combos, then click fly fishing combos. Do you realize you are asking about buying something from the competition of this site, on this site?

I would never buy a combo from cabelas or bp after looking at a combo a friend got from there. He ordered the combo as a gift to his father, from a store you linked in your post. The deal was for a 5wt rod, with a matching reel, line, and backing. When he received it in the mail, I took a look at it. The rod was a 5 weight, as ordered, and the reel matched as well. The problem was with the line. It was not a 5 wt line. It wasn't marked, but it felt like a 3 wt to me. The rod would barely cast it.

The 3 wt line was attached to the backing with a failed attempt at a nail knot, which broke when I tugged on it. The leader was attached the same way, and also broke when I pulled it. Luckily for my friend, I was there to notice the problem and take care of it by giving him an extra 5 wt line I had laying around, which I made sure to attach to the backing the right way. I also attached a new leader, and loop to the line for him. A beginner such as youself would not have noticed the poorly tied knots or the wrong weight of flyline and would have had a lot of trouble casting, and would likely left the first big fish he hooked wearing a full leader that would have broke off at the poorly tied nail knot.

Just my $.02

Fish USA service is the best I've ever encountered, and their prices are good too. I have two Redington rods but I don't know anything about their reels. For steelhead fishing the drag on the reel is probably most important.

ORIGINAL: okuma

a reel that has a good drag is essential.

I fish a 6wt in Erie all the time, but like okuma said you have to have a good drag which is when i looked in to a guide favorite from Ross Reels CLA. This reel gets me through local trout and steelhead. I also ended up using the same setup for bass. FishUSA has them for sale. They are a great reel for the price with a lifetime warranty.

i would not get any of the combos you had listed. the TFO rod would be a good choice but i would definately upgrade the reel. i prefer a machined reel over a die-cast reel. cast reels are brittle and can bend or break easily if dropped on rocks. i had this happen to me once, so machined from then on. the drag is most important. get a disc drag that's sealed and you can fish that in any conditions, so when you have a freezing rain, your drag will not freeze up and when you drop or set it in the sand/mud, just dunk it in the water and you're good to go.

Ya that was probably the one

I'm not a fan of Cabela's stuff. Some of it is good but most of it is junk.
 
On the other hand, Fish USA has come a long way in supplying good to great equipment at decent prices.
 

the best thing you could is go to a local shop like fishusa and talk to the people one on one. find out opinions from a lot of people. see what works and what doesn't. and test cast rods to see what feels good for you, not someone else. bass pro and cabelas dont have local service that you can stop by and ask a question. just my 2 pennies tho.

You may be able to pick the rods off the shelf and "wiggle test" them at Cabelas, but thats about it. I was in the market for a rod recently, so I asked to cast one and the guy said I couldn't to which I replied "why would I spend several hundred dollars on a rod that I can't cast?" I told the dude to forget it and took my money elsewhere.

No local feeling in cabelas for me. They have some real tards working behind the counter in the FF department. eff them

cabela's is horrible........if it wasn't for the fish in tanks and the mounts........and the fact that I have two rugrats aged 4 and 5 who love the place.......I'd never step foot in there...........
 
I was in the bargain cave one day.........guy is looking at a fly rod, an 11 weight---guy asks employee if this would make a good steelhead rod.......employee goes, Yeah, I use an 11 weight when I am fishing steelhead....I can really bring em' quick with the 11 weight, no playing around with them..........I just stood there and started to laugh...........I have plenty of reasons for the sour taste in my mouth when it comes to Cabela's, but the fact is: they are not hiring people with specific knowledge in a specific area..........they are hiring the locals to get the job done---which is a good thing...........no different than walmart, boscovs or K-mart.......just selling different stuff...........you have good employees and you have bad employees........same as anywhere else