You are finally in the boat after a few hours in airports, flying and driving to your destination in Ireland. The long rod is all rigged up with a damsel on the point and a spider on the dropper. A big cast and start stripping back quickly till a flash of silver hits the top fly and the reel starts to spin. A pitched battle ensues with a fish who tries everything to get away. Jumping, diving, under the boat and all the time you are trying to keep him off balance so that he will tire out. At last he succumbs and you have a well built 3 pound sea trout in the net. Come on one of our trips to Lough Currane. Or if you are not quite ready for that how about a day trip boat fishing on the reservoirs of southern England for some big rainbow trout.

Fishing from a boat you need a long rod to get as much distance as possible. You will either be drifting towards the fly or stripping it back and a long cast keeps the fly in or on the water longer and increases the chance of its being taken. In traditional boat style fishing you use a rod of about 11' for a line weight of 5 or 6 but you could also use your bank fishing rod. A floating line is the bare minimum but over time you are going to need to add to that an intermediate, fast sinking and/or sink-tip line to get down to where the fish are. The reel will need a decent drag system so you can concentrate on playing the fish. And you will want to load any extra lines onto spare spools that can be easily changed. A straight nylon leader may be all you need on the sinking lines but a tapered nylon leader is preferable. On the floating line any kind of floating leader will do. If you have only a floating line consider getting a sinking leader of some sort. Tippets of 3x or 4x are normal. Your fly selection will depend on the time of year but should contain buzzers, marabou patterns and wet flies (e.g. Kate McLarens) in sizes 10 down to 14.
Now read more detail about the tackle options in Choosing your tackle.