Always a tough decision. If you plan on sticking with the sport, you don't want something so cheap that it will be replaced within months. Nomatter what you choose, you will end up upgrading, but you want something that will always be useful in your arsenal. Stay away from the Walmarts of the world. Go to a reputable fly shop in your area, get some pointers from the shop owner, and test cast a few.
The Cortland GRX is a winner for the money, they are fairly cheap, and I've seen these on occasion at Dick's, and quite a few fly shops carry Cortland. Might be a bit fast action for a beginner, though, you want to test it and see if you like it better or worse than other rods. Stick with the cheaper models of good brands. Loomis, Sage, Cortland, Orvis, TFO, etc, all of their rods are pretty good. Cabelas and Bass Pro (White River Fly Shops) have some nice stuff and some not so nice stuff.
For standard trout fishing in PA, a 9 ft 5 wt is pretty standard. If you're fishing smaller streams more often, you might want to go with an 8 or 8.5 ft rod, but if you'll be primarily on bigger water, stick with 9 ft. They are easier to cast, especially for a beginner. If you want as a trout/bass hybrid, you could think about a 6 wt or even a 7 wt, but for my first rod, I wouldn't go lighter than a 5 wt.
As for the reel, unless you plan on jumping in on steelhead or something, you can skimp here. If it balances the rod, so that the balance point is on the cork or just above, its fine. For regular trout, a reel is little more than a place to hold line.
Get a Weight Forward (WF) line to match the weight ranking of the reel and rod, doesn't so much matter on the line just yet. Get the fly shop to load the backing and line.
