New Rods Introduced by Sage

S

Sylvaneous

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Sep 11, 2006
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I got a flier from Feather-Craft that shows Sage has a new, slower action rod called the 'MOD' for moderate action. AND for the completely reasonable price of $850. Too bad the G. Loomis Streamdance GLX is probably a superior trout rod for $200 less and has been around for several years now. "So sir, will it be the Mazeratti, the Porche or the Mercedes AMG Hammer this evening?"

It has become ridiculous and only gets more so.

When a $500 fly rod is considered 'budget'... and people don't have money to spend, we hear.
 
Wow. You can get a used moderate action sage for $150.....it's called a sage gfl from the mid 80's, spl or rpl from the 90's LOL. I agree but if the market didn't support it, they'd stop making them. I'll use my budget models all day long and bet it catches more than a majority of the high dollar ones out there.

 
One of my favorite moderate action rods is an old Sage DS2 8'6" 3 weight. It's a great trico rod and protects very light tippets. I think it retailed for about $200 new. I bought it for $140 after it was discontinued. It's a fine rod that did not cost me a fortune. I cannot begin to figure how many trout have been brought to hand with it. Money well spent!
 
I forgot all about the DS. That was their least expensive rod back in the mid-90's. There was the DS, the RPL, RPL+, and the LL. I think that was it. And I recall the price of the RPL was $440. I can still see the Sage catalog I got from Nestor's rod and bow in my mind. You could say it made an impression.
 
I have an rpl+ and I paid $465 if I remember correctly. Busted it out last year after several years or no use. It's a damn nice rod.
 
I can't see spending $500+ for a rod. Yes I do own some older high end orvis, sage and Winston rods. Over time I have come to realize it is not he rod, it is the caster that makes a good rod cast well. Sure the newest latest and greatest marketing on the new rods make them attractive but good rods are good rods no mater the vintage. Sage , winston and orvis are very good rods and can be found for less than 1/2 of these new rods and personalty make more sense than a new rod.
 
The best way to acquire the 800 dollar Sage rods is wait a year until it's discontinued then buy it for 400 bucks in a bargain bin somewhere
 
njk3395 wrote:
The best way to acquire the 800 dollar Sage rods is wait a year until it's discontinued then buy it for 400 bucks in a bargain bin somewhere
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They do 'churn' their product lines a good bit. How long did the VPS or XP , ZXL or z-axis lines last? The SLT was one of their best pure and practical trout fly rods ever. I'm so glad i got one. Where did that go? They can't charge $700 for a rod that they started selling for under $500. So dump it and 'give it a new hat", like Malibu Stacey from the old Simpson's episode. I think that's part of the business model. They have to more frequently introduce new product to get the 'debut' effect and have people be excited to get the latest and greatest, which is more expensive fly rod sales.

I wish they made better $400 fly rods. A 9ft 5 wt at 3 1/4 oz is a spec from almost 20 years ago, even if it IS a 4 pc. Yeah, or I mean NO. I'm glad I have a full quiver.

And don't get me started on reels. I have a $60 shimano spinning reel from the mid-90's that still works pretty well. That's with several gears and bearings. So i should want a $300 aluminum spool mounted in a housing and a drag to stop what exactly? I caught Erie steelhead on an old cheap Orvis Madison. How could a fly reel not be durable? It does so very little.

Ridiculous. We are such rubes. Me about as much as anyone.

Syl

 
It's just consumerism and marketing at work, and happens with nearly everything you buy, from cars to toilet paper.

In order to keep/attract buyers, manufacturers have to market a new product as "better" in some aspect than what it replaced, in order to create desire for the product. If people would all be happy with their current rods, you'd have a lot less, and smaller, fly rod and toilet paper manufacturers.

I'm set as far as rods, and am actually cutting back, but I always thought it'd be interesting to go rod shopping, but first having someone cover all of the manufacturer and model information on the rod. Heck that'd even tie into the line WT designations too.
 
I agree with Sylvaneous, the best all-around pure trout rod Sage made IMO was the SLT. It was replaced by the ZXL which was replaced by the CIRCA which will be replaced by ?. Like Sylvaneous I am happy to be the proud owner of not one but two SLT's, a five piece 9' 5 weight and a 4 piece 8 1/2' 4 weight. Great rods even if they are not the latest and greatest.
 
worst thing sage did was drop the LL series rods! If they wanted a moderate action rod this was a sweet taper and is a taper guys are trying to duplicate!
 
Idk, was never a fan of Sage rods.. I've casted a good deal of their rods in the 400-800 dollar range and imo they don't compare to the other brands in the same class
 
The first generation LL series rods are probably the most sought after older Sage rods, and command a pretty high price. I have a graphite II 586 LL, and I believe the graphite II LL's are a little faster than the first generation LL rods. I also own a 480 RP which is extremely light weight, but faster that the LL's.

That being said, I too scratch my head with the seemingly endless new editions of Sage rods, and I would never pay the high price they command.
 
The SLT was replaced by the TXL, which was replaced by the TXL-F. The Circa is slower.

The graphite II LL's are the originals. The graphite III is the second generation.

Carry on the Sage bashing.
 
No bashing here but the TCX was a hunk of s**t.
 
BrookieChaser wrote:
The SLT was replaced by the TXL, which was replaced by the TXL-F. The Circa is slower.

The graphite II LL's are the originals. The graphite III is the second generation.

Carry on the Sage bashing.
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The SLT was NOT replaced by the TXL. It was replaced by the ZXL which in turn was replaced by the CIRCA and yes it is a slower rod than the ZXL.
 
You're right.

I had one specific SLT (363-3) in mind where the taper was identical (I have both) SLT to TXL just different graphite.

The SLT was somewhere around 2002, the TXL 2005, and the ZXL 2008.
 
I do stand corrected on the graphite II and III LL series rods. However, I was not bashing Sage rods, just questioning their need to come out with umpteen versions of rods.
 
I'm looking at the same flyer from F-C. Besides the Mod, Sage has the Bolt ($650) and the Pulse ($450). But it's not only Sage; Scott has the Meridian ($865), and Winston has the BIII Plus ($855). Oh Sage also threw in the Little One, a light line version of the One for only $850.

Funny how the top price is pretty much the same among manufacturers. It's almost like price fixing. Throw Orvis and T&T in there too. And in a couple years these will be discontinued for supposedly even better models at higher cost.

Perhaps genetically modified arundinaria amabilis is in our future too. Make better 'boo and charge more!
 
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