My nickname isn't Sagefisher by accident, I fish with Sage fly rods. I am a little prejudiced towards Sage, but then they make an excellent array of fly rods. They are all handmade made here in the United States.

There are a number of good fly rods out there. Sage is one of the best. Winston is also one of the best, but it's low end rods are now made overseas. Thomas & Thomas was just purchased by an English company so I don't know what they are going to do with their rods. Hardy is an English company and I am not familiar with their products.

Personally, I say buy Sage, you can't go wrong. The lifetime warranty is great, but then a number of other companies have had to start lifetime warranties as well, to try to keep up with the top of the line rods.

As for which Sage, that does depend on how much you want to spend and more importantly, your level of casting skill.

Sage breaks their fly rods down into three groups: Premium Fly Rods; Specialty Fly Rods; and Value Fly Rods.

The Specialty Fly Rod is the saltwater rated Xi2. This is a great saltwater fly rod, they make them from 4 weights to 16 weights. They are made for serious saltwater fishing.

The Premium Fly Rod is the area you may want to take a look at. They have a wider selection of rod actions and sizes.

In this area you have the very technical and extremely ultra fast action TCR fly rod. Unless you are a master caster I wouldn't consider this rod.

The new Z-Axis fly rod is their fast action rod, which replaced the XP series (I love the XP rods). The Z-Axis casts very well and is an excellent fly rod. Remember it is a fast action rod, great for nymphing and casting large streamers. I use an 11 foot 6 weight Z-Axis for nymphing and I love it. If you are going to be doing a lot of casting of small dries with really light tippet, I would not get this rod, but rather I think the SLT would be better.

If you are going to do a lot of dry fly fishing, especially smaller dry flies, then you may want to get a medium-fast action rod. This rod will handle the larger streamers and heavy dries yet allow you the ability to cast small dries using a 7X tippet.

The SLT series is an excellent medium-fast rod and great for virtually any fresh water fishing. That would be my choice for a dry fly rod.

They do make a TXL rod, a medium-fast action in a short rod (7' to 7' 10") in 000 to 4 weight sizes. Great for smaller fish and brushy creeks or streams. This is more of a specialty rod and not to be used for your usual lake or larger river fishing. You would not use this rod for casting large streamers or huge dry flies or heavy nymphing rigs.

If you did want to save a little money, you could go for a Sage value rods.

The Launch series is their lowest priced rod. It is a medium-fast rod and casts decently.

The FLi series costs a little more and is a fast action rod.

A consideration to be made, is what are your fishing needs? Are you going to be doing a lot of small stream fishing, or just larger creeks and rivers and lakes? Are you going to be doing a lot of small dry fly fishing or casting mostly large streamers and heavy nymphing outfits?

If you bought a 9 foot 5 weight Launch rod for dry flies and a 9 foot 6 weight FLi for streamers, you would have two rods for two different needs, or even buy an additional Launch rod in the 7 foot 3 weight for small streams, you would be spending just about as much as you would for their high end rods. That is a great way for a beginner to have a nice selection of rods.

However, if you have been fly fishing for a while and cast decently, then I would go for the higher end rod. You will appreciate the way they cast and handle the fly line.

For large streamers and heavy nymphing rigs, I would suggest a Z-Axis. It may be a fast action rod, but it is very sensitive and you can really feel the fish while fighting it.

For a lot of dry fly fishing, I would suggest the SLT in a 5 or 6 weight 9 foot rod.

Have fun selecting a rod. Have even more fun fishing with it.

For more on Sage rods, go to:

http://www.sageflyfish.com/default.asp?p=6

Larry
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