The second important part is the reel. The reel on a fly rod hangs below the rod and helps you land a fish without breaking the thin monofilament that might only be able to withstand two or three pounds before it breaks. The most important feature in a reel is the drag; it is what determines how hard it is to pull line from the reel. The proper way to set a drag is to hold your line in your left hand and hold your rod with the reel attached so that pulling on the line causes the rod to bend. You can then tighten or loosen the drag so that the reel will slowly let line go when the rod is bent to the max. This helps when trying to land a fish because the rod will bend to the point that the line won't break, but then when the rod cannot bend any more, the reel will let the line go so the fish can swim and tire itself out so you can reel it in without breaking the line.
The final things that you need are not as costly. You will need a line both floating and a thin leader made of monofilament. You should also purchase a net with medium sized holes to assist in getting your fish onto the bank of the stream or simply to hold it when you are wading out into the stream. The last thing you need are flies. These come in almost infinite types, colors, and styles for the pickiest fish. However, there are a few types that you absolutely need. Flies are either wet or dry. A wet fly is a fly that sinks below the surface and will go down to the fish. The other type, dry flies, are flies that imitate dying insects like mayflies that will die and fall onto the surface of the water and the trout will rise and eat them off the surface of the water. Wet flies are mostly used in the summer and can be used all the way to November or December depending on how cold the weather is. Dry flies are used almost exclusively in the spring and summer months because that is when trout would see these types of flying insects naturally. The point of a fly is to imitate an insect that a fish would encounter naturally and to trick the fish into eating it based only on its appearance. One other important thing to know about flies is that they can be made at home relatively inexpensively, but it does take some time to learn how to do and might not be ideal for a beginner. A good place to get flies is at any outdoors store like French Creek Outfitters or Cabela's.