Fly - spend more on rod or reel?

Fly fishing,I say spend money on the rod.

If you want a really high end setup for saltwater, you will spend money on both but likely more on the rod. Most of the top of the line rod offerings these days exceed $1000 (IE Scott Sector, Loomis Asquith, T&T Sextant, Sage Salt, etc.). Likewise, most of the top end reels will be at least $600 (Nautilus, Tibor, Abel SDS, etc.). Once you start customizing the reels they get more expensive.

There are plenty of "mid" level rods that will be in the $500-700 range and whether you'll be able to tell the difference between one of those and a $1000+ rod is something only you can answer. TFO's new Moment rod seems to be well-received and it's backed up by their awesome warranty program.

Buy the best quality rod you can afford.

freshwater list from most important to least
LINE
rod
reel

Spend the money on top tier scientific angler line with a good backing.

As others have said, it depends on your use case.

I will say that only a few people hit on what I think is the MOST important expense and gives the best bang for the buck: the line. Huge difference between a cheap line and a high quality line in perfomance yet a pretty small difference ($60 bucks plus/minus) in price.

The main time that a reel will be important in freshwater is if you are targeting large trout (or possibly carp) with small tippet (5X or 6X) in which case a smooth drag may make a difference between landing the fish or brekaing it off.

In saltwater, you need to make sure that you have a reel that's suitable for the salt (sealed drag and corrosion-resistant materials), otherwise it's going to be trash pretty quickly after a few uses.

I feel like good fly line is a given if you're buying a high end fly setup. I don't know too many folks that have $40 line on $1800 setups.

I also think the whole sealed drag debate is a little overblown. I've seen multiple sealed drag systems fail because of salt exposure. Tibor's cork drags have also been holding up to extreme saltwater exposure for decades. I'd rather have a cork drag system that I could disassemble and work on if I were on some month long excursion in some far away place.

That being said, I've had great luck with the Nautilus NVG drag system over the years. I've had to send a couple of my reels back to Nautilus for maintenance, but they were always quick about it and I've never had any major issues.

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Reel doesn't do shite for casting and most times doesn't even do shite on retrieving.

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A good drag system is really helpful when dealing with very fast saltwater fish, especially if you're trying to catch them on lighter tippet for whatever reason. I'd much rather have a high end reel on a multi week DIY bonefish trip than a $150 bass pro reel made in China.

Depends what you're fishing for. Fishing for bigger/quicker saltwater fish then the reel is more important than if you're bluelining for trout.

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A good drag system is really helpful when dealing with very fast saltwater fish, especially if you're trying to catch them on lighter tippet for whatever reason. I'd much rather have a high end reel on a multi week DIY bonefish trip than a $150 bass pro reel made in China.

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a $150 chinese made BPS reel is plenty good enough for bonefish....trying to double haul a mantis shrimp in a 20 MPH breeze 100 feet or more to spooky arse bone fish or permit with an inadequate rod would be enough to make a man take drunk....hard enough to do with a adequate rod. I have an Okuma 8 weight reel on a TFO 7/8 rod that I can double haul 120-30 feet and have caught so many 3-7 pound bonefish it ought to be illegal....and never once worried about the reel that I paid about $50 for 20 years ago. I have had the occasional snook put a whupping on that reel though....but only 20 pounders, 5-15 are no problem. I have caught 50 pound tarpon on it but it is undersized for all but baby tarpon....

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I can double haul 120-30 feet

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I bet you think strippers like you too.

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I've already got a Galvan reel that gets good reviews and seems to be well made

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So really you're just looking to get into a rod? What are you targeting

I say this on every fly fishing thread but scour FB marketplace and Ebay for lightly used gear. A lot of people buy a badarse 8wt combo for a bonefish trip or two and leave it in a closet afterwards before selling it.