Sage sonic - kind of a review

[krayfish2]

After fishing with moon the last couple of years, I've come to see that a 6wt can be useful for big water trout without feeling like I'm over gunned. There's definitely times where the heavier line makes distance cast more enjoyable or if there's a steady breeze blowing.

Months ago, ordered a sonic after reading every review I could find and watching every video of about this model trying to figure out if it was something I might like.

I had been on the auction site for months trying to find a method 6wt without any luck. The sonic seemed like it might be somewhat similar and it showed up last week.

The rod build was nice, the cork and grip shape were perfect. I quickly put it together and strung up and reel with SA trout taper just to get a couple of tosses in between the showers. Light swing weight, crisp action and fast recovery. For being on the upper end of the fast spectrum, it didn't feel Uber fast or telephone pole like. In fact, it was easy to cast in close with better feel than other fast rods I've cast. I did dump the reel to see how it did at distance. Tried 2 double hauls that sailed straight and into the neighbors yard. Paced off around 90' which shocked me.

Haven't had it on the water yet to see how it does it picking up long sections of line or fighting a fish but it seems like it's going to be a workhorse all arounder. From small streamers to nymphing to long distance dry fly.... seems like a winner. Little pricier than I wanted to do but I think it will end up as a favorite pretty quickly. If a sage method and a One had a baby.... this would be it. I'll follow up with an actual on water review when I finally get out later this month.

If you were kicking the idea around of getting one, I go test cast it quick and you might be surprised and how good it is.

 

[Sylvaneous]

THanks for the analysis. I always take anything I see on YouTube and the like with a big pinch of salt. And not maybe that they are spinning it or bending the truth, their context may be quite different than a regular Pennsylvania fly fisherman.

 

[krayfish2]

Ok, had the rod out for a couple of days. I enjoy faster recovering rods with a softer tip. After seeing reviews, thought this might be close to that.

Paired with oversized reel, it felt pretty light and swing weight was good in my opinion. Cast with my favorite long casting dry fly line...airflo river and stream (now called superflo tactical taper). Wasn't fond of it based on the distances we were casting. Changed to SA texture trout taper. Much better results / feedback.

Rod picked-up long sections of line with ease. Fast, crisp, tip flexing casts. In real close, feedback was minimal but you could still find the target. Performed nicely on medium and long casts with tight loops. When fishing down/across at distance, found the tip a little too firm to make line feeding/stack mending easy. Can be done but it's a little more work than I expected.

Basically a nice rod that seems to be a all around workhorse. If you liked the xp or z-axis but missed getting one.... this might be worth a few casts as it struck me as a lighter feeling blend of those 2

 

[Tigereye]

Late to the table here but I was looking for reviews on the SONIC. Found this. A fellow member here (who will remain nameless) recently borrowed my Sage 590 RPL which I loved. Well he conveniently converted my prize 2 piece rod into a 3 piece. In all honesty he did make good to cover replacement cost as did Sage who held up their end of the deal by offering comparable replacement. So all is well.

While I like the idea of a 4 piece and have no qualms about that, Sage is offering to replace the 590 RPL with a Sonic 590-4, because they no longer have components for the RPL. QUESTION, how do you feel the Sonic compares to the RPL? Use is larger waters, (Western US, Lehigh and Brodhead), dry flies 12 thru 18, indy nymphing, and occasional swinging of wet flies.

Thank is advance.

 

[krayfish2]

I've only made it out trout fishing 6-8 times this year. The sonic got lots of work in the windy spring conditions.
I pretty much only fish bigger water anymore so all of it was done on the D or Lehigh. Still rotating between SA textured trout, airflo distance pro or airflo river and stream. All three worked well.

I have an old RPL+ in 6wt but the sonic is very different. Feels less stiff for sure. It's fast but not the kind of fast that makes it a chore to throw. Really pleasant all around type of rod. I don't know how well it would handle a 1" bobber with two size 4 Kauffman stones on but should handle most PA nymphing duty. If you were going to use it at 15' on the PO, might be a little more labor intensive to cast than if you were casting 35-40' on the Lehigh. I've let a couple guys on here cast it while we were out floating and every one of them remarked how much they liked it

Used it for big stuff like ISO / March Brown, windy conditions or for long casts when I didn't feel like going 110% on a 5wt. Very pleased. Casts nicely and flights fish well. Still happy with the purchase 👍

 

[falcon]

In Spring with the typical larger flies if I suspect wind (which is usually every day) I use a 6wt on the Upper D. I have several that I have acquired over 40 years from the medium action Winston IM6 to the Sage Ignitor (a slightly detuned Method). I too keep looking for a #6 Method.

 

[krayfish2]

In Spring with the typical larger flies if I suspect wind (which is usually every day) I use a 6wt on the Upper D. I have several that I have acquired over 40 years from the medium action Winston IM6 to the Sage Ignitor (a slightly detuned Method). I too keep looking for a #6 Method.

I've found several over the last 18 months but the asking price is outrageous. No matter how badly I'd like to have one, I'm not paying $700-$800 for a used rod. Still kicking around the idea of a truth z or ultralight x in a 6wt. Igniter is probably 3rd option. Sage re-released the XP a couple years back through Cabela's and it sold like hotcakes. You know they still have the mandrel and I've begged for them to make another run of methods but they won't.