A noteworthy growth out of Bainbridge Island this week: Sage simply dropped a brand new fly rod, and it’s not a rocket-fast stick that may ship a lead-eye Clouser at you so rapidly that it would go away an exit wound. The corporate simply launched its new Sage CLASSIC R8, a throwback fly rod that’s deliberately slower and designed to be solid by anglers who fish intentionally. Sage says the brand new rod is “a fruits of our most superior supplies, componentry, and application-specific tapers thus far,” whereas paying homage to Sage’s lengthy and illustrious historical past as a premium rod builder. Its aesthetics are noticeably “old style” Sage, with the chocolate brown end and light-weight beige thread accents. However, regardless of the flexibility to conjure up photos of the fly-fishing heyday proper across the time “the film” hit the large display, the rod’s efficiency, the corporate says, is as intentional as it’s nostalgic.
Utilizing the motto, “fish sluggish, really feel extra,” Sage is tipping its hat to anglers who may spend a bit extra time watching and strolling, and maybe a bit much less time casting and methodically “masking water.” The rod, Sage says, is noticeably slower than what’s been churning off the mandrels on the Washington store of late. As an alternative, the corporate has produced a rod with a extra “basic” really feel — a rod that “likes to bend.”
The rod is formally a “average motion” implement that hundreds deeper and requires casters to train a little bit of persistence. For these of us who matriculated by way of the craft beginning with a heavy dose of creek fishing thrown in, the CLASSIC R8 may really feel splendidly acquainted. And, given what premium rod-makers are providing up of late — fast-action rods that implement the newest in tech to provide us skinny tapers and “must-see-to-believe power” — Sage, on this occasion, is utilizing its rod-building powers for good.
Whereas it might fish slower and extra intentionally, the corporate says it hasn’t skimped on its proprietary R8 expertise. Throw in premium {hardware}, purported quick restoration and the graceful switch of vitality to realize better-than-you-might anticipate line velocity, and Sage may need produced the subsequent good fly rod for fly fishers, not simply fly casters. Or, as the corporate’s promotional video proclaims, the rod is constructed for anglers who need to bear in mind what it was like “when a fish story didn’t must be backed up by an Instagram submit.”
Ah, the great outdated days, certainly.
The Sage CLASSIC R8 is clearly a rod constructed primarily for the trout angler. And, dare I counsel, it’s constructed for the walk-and-wade angler … anyone who fishes with a objective and never essentially for a objective. It’s out there in line weights 3 by way of 6, with numerous lengths meant for various fishing circumstances. If the corporate’s advertising supplies are correct, it’s a dry-fly rod that should put smiles on the faces of each angler who cringes each time they hear the phrase, “Buster right here desires to fish.”
“Should you’ve spent plenty of time watching the slower tempo of how the atmosphere adjustments, that is actually inspiring, and I’ve felt that within the rod,” says Sage rod designer Peter Knox. “These supplies are so potent, you utilize just a bit bit, and also you get a lot line velocity. This technique of dialing it down somewhat bit, simply chilling out, it has been a technique of matching the rod to the atmosphere, the velocity, and the tempo that I need to go, and that is essential for fulfillment. It is that systematic feeling. It is enjoying on the fish’s phrases. It is all of that condensed, collated, after which exhibited in graphite type.”
The CLASSIC R8 retails for $975 — sadly, we don’t get a throwback price ticket — and is out there now at fly retailers and different retailers.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CLASSIC R8
