I have long been looking for a rod that will do all things. This has probably been a life-long search but the fishing I am now doing means the criteria is, thankfully, narrowing.
I want a rod that I can string up and fish a long leader with nymphs and also carry a fly line in my vest pocket and quickly tie on a dry should a hatch occur. Having a longer rod also will enable me to have great line control when fishing with a fly line.
Up until recently I think I have been looking at this the wrong way round. I have bought 10ft rods that fit the nymph fishing bill perfectly but when I cast a fly line on them they are OK but are more of an emergency dry fly rod rather than something I am fishing with and am thinking “do I make the long walk back to the truck to change rods?”
That is my fault for making the wrong choice at the beginning of my day’s fishing but having a reel in my pocket and the perfect all-round rod save me having to worry about this.
Coming from a background of smaller, tree lined streams can sometimes make a 10 footer feel just a little too much but a 9 footer seems a little too short when fishing some of the bigger rivers I venture to.
It sounds like a classic Goldilocks scenario. I want something not too long, not too short and with a light all-round line weight, say a 4wt.
Having looked long and hard there weren’t many rods that fit the bill but the Sage One series had a 9 ½ ft 4wt. Too good to be true?
I had to find out and made the brave move of buying it unseen, or more importantly, uncast. I haven’t bought a Sage rod for a while now. For me, the 6wt SP, 5wt XP, 4wt SLT and 5wt TCR were about as good as it gets so I haven’t felt the need to replace them.
There are some really good rods out there right now and I do buy into “it’s hard to buy a bad rod these days” argument but of late I have noticed that the gap between the upper end out and out rod manufacturers and the rest of the pack seems to have widened a bit. There is little doubt that as wider uses of resins and building techniques are more available then the gap might close again but for me having cast a few of the “new breed” of rods I think there is some catching up to do.
So I decided to buy a 9 1/2ft 4wt Sage One.
When it arrived I took the rod out of its sleek black tube. I have to say it looks smart but I personally found the tube a little snug but the rod, in its looks, didn’t disappoint.
The quality of cork on the handle is excellent and the handle is slightly different in shape, something Sage call a snub nose half wells. I always used to find Sage handles a little big for me but it isn’t the case here.
The blank is black and has a ceramic stripping guide and hard chrome snake guides. The reel seat hardware is what Sage describes as golden bronze coloured with walnut wood.
For my up close and personal fishing with long leaders there isn’t too much on the blank that is going to have me panicking but my personal preference would be for matt rings to eliminate any flash.
The weight of the blank is a very agreeable 2 7/8 oz. Nice and easy for keeping line off of the water when nymphing.
Below the Sage logo, written in small letters, it simply says Kinetic Technology. What Sage have done is to take their graphite technology on a few steps but to also align the graphite in a more precise, much straighter way that allows the blanks to be narrower and therefore lighter but also stronger. They say they can cut weight of a blank down by 25%.
Sounds like good stuff and the blank does feel light and well balanced. I make a quick sharp pop of the tip which shows a blank that recovers incredibly quickly. Seriously quickly.
Sage says the action is fast and I wouldn’t disagree. It is quite stiff but not uncomfortably so. My initial worry is if I might bump fish off when nymphing.
I try a few lines on the rod and one of my favourites at the moment is the Loop Evotec 85. I cast it and like it but it isn’t life changing. Next is a Rio LT. It casts nicely but makes the rod feel a little too stiff for me. The Barrio SLX is nice but is just missing something but I pop on the Barrio GT 90. Yes, this is it. It just clicks into place and works perfectly. All I need is a short, compact casting stroke and the line flies. This is really, really nice.
I know these things can be hugely subjective but the Barrio line really brought the rod to life for me. If you are able, it is worth taking the time to cast with a variety of lines if you have them and perhaps taking your reel with the line you use most just to see how it feels.
My suspicion would also probably be that the prototypes were tested with some of the other Rio lines too that might be worth a try.
When I am casting the rod it doesn’t feel like a 9 1/2ft rod more like a 9 footer, a rod I am more comfortable casting than one of 10 feet. It is probably due to the lightness that it feels that way.
So, I have found a line I like and now to fish it with a nymph rig in a real fishing situation. I prefer the Fish On leaders and fished the enhanced turnover version with a 6ft tippet. That gives me about 27ft to play with.
As I mentioned before I was a little worried about the stiffer action of the rod but needn’t have. I have only bumped a couple of fish since using the rod and that was partly, if not all, operator error. It works just fine.
I was fishing the other day with a friend and had been fishing nymphs but made the switch to a fly line and dry and he had a go. It was interesting that he didn’t feel the rod was stiff as he thought it might be and I really took note as he likes to fish a more fuller flexing rod.
So am I happy I bought the rod? I think it is probably clear that I am. As I have said before in reviews I buy the rod and fish with it. I have lived with the rod for 3 months now and fished hard with it. I didn’t want to rush into a review as I wanted to get to know the rod and it is really, really good.
The stumbling block may be price in these times of austerity. I sold some items of my tackle to help fund the purchase. I am seriously rationalising what I have, what I use and how much I use it.
It is hard to justify in some cases but in others this will become, along with a small select band, a rod that I will use a lot. I know I will.
Should you rush out and buy one? I can’t answer that for you but I have bought a rod that I have tried to look at differently. I have bought a rod that can cast a dry fly with ease and I can also fish nymphs with confidence. Perhaps I have moved a step closer to my perfect all-round rod.
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