Red,

It's as complicated as you want to make it, but playing with all the gear can be a lot of fun.

Sinking lines are different to cast and retrieve, but they handle the big flies well. I would start with an intermediate and get a second reel or spool when you get comfortable with casting. Spools can be a pain and I prefer having a whole second rig loaded up for working deep when required, but we are floating and can't always run back upstream to rework an area with a different setup.

Rio outbound shorts are super nice and come in all different sink rates. Like I said before, they will throw a chicken-sized fly a good ways with very little effort compared to other lines that are out there.

While we are on the subject...I'm having a hell of a time keeping fish buttoned up this year. Solid strip strikes and I even follow it up with a second or even third set with the rod to bury it, but have had a few sets just come out. Is anybody else seeing a lot of this with flies? It's hard to swallow, but I get the feeling its just part of the game...