Sage Power R8 9-weight review By Nick Curcione

When the subject is romance and folks talk about falling in love there’s an old saying that tells us absence makes the heart grow fonder. After I was asked to review this new stick from Sage I began to wonder if that statement might apply to fly rods as well. In my case fishing Sage rods dates back nearly 50 years ago. That long period of absence was occasionally interrupted when I had the opportunity to pick up one of their rods at a fly-fishing show and give it a go on one of the casting ponds. Throughout all those years despite the stellar brand of rods I had in my ever-expanding quiver, (a lineup that included the likes of Fenwick, Loomis, Orvis, Scott, and Thomas & Thomas,) I was always impressed with the unmistakable quality of Sage rods. They always felt good in my hands, they cast like a dream, and when the occasion presented itself, you could whip big fish with it.

Over the years I can honestly state that all my experiences with Sage rods have been very rewarding with no complaints whatsoever. I have several   experienced fly fisher friends who feel the same way who will buy and fish only Sage rods. That’s a prime example of brand loyalty and you achieve it by having a completely satisfied customer base. In this respect, Sage has earned its coveted reputation in the fly-fishing community.

Given this background I had high expectations about how this new R8 iteration would perform and after my first few casts I wasn’t disappointed. I guess that’s an understated way of saying that any competent caster will love this rod. At the risk of ruffling some feathers I chose the word competent because to truly evaluate a rod’s performance capabilities you should know how to properly cast it and sadly in the countless encounters I’ve had with fly fishers these many years that has not always been the case. Here’s one glaring example. A few years ago, at one of the major fly fishing shows a fellow walked into a friend’s booth to return a rod he just finished casting. My friend asked, “what do you think,” and the guy replied that he didn’t care for it because he was throwing too many tailing loops. Presumably it meant that wasn’t the case with his other rods. But like most other casting faults, a tailing loop is exclusively the result of poor technique. And it’s not a function of windy conditions. We were indoors. Regardless of the brand, poor casting is most often the fault of the caster not the rod. The caster orchestrates the input, the rod responds accordingly. And true to my experience with past Sage rods, with the proper input this new model responds beautifully, I love casting it.

I’m not a tech type person so when I judge the merits of a fly rod, I tend to ignore what they have to say about engineering and design details. I’m told that Sage incorporated a new type of graphite and resin. Ok. I assume for a lot of folks that’s nice to know. But to judge a rod I need to have it in my hands, I want to see how it casts with different lines under varying wind conditions and this stick put a smile on my face every time. I rigged it with conventional weight forward floating lines as well as my go-to specialty sinking shooting heads and the rod handled them all extremely well. Heavily weighted flies, the ones I throw often out here on the west coast, were no problem. This is a fast action stick and it does the job with effortless input. When speaking of rod action there are two variables to bear in mind, the degree to which the rod bends and the location on the blank where most of the flexing takes place. I don’t have access to a flexing board or the necessary measuring instruments, but with my fifty plus years of casting experience I can assure you that Sage got it right. Even at my advanced age I could easily cast this rod hour after hour regardless of the line or fly pattern. That was the drill a few weeks backs when I took it to the “wall” to hunt calico bass off the Long Beach breakwater. I’m throwing mostly Zonker type patterns with 1/10oz lead bellies trying to put them in tight to the rocks with a head on wind to contend with. I usually use a 10-wt rod for these conditions, but this stick handled it with no problem.

 So, if you’re a competent caster you can seamlessly deliver the goods, but how does it perform when a powerful fish takes your offering and is doing its utmost to regain its freedom? One of the most challenging adversaries I can target in my local waters are mako sharks and Scott Wessels (the Bears Den is his baby) joined my friend John Loo and I and took this R8 on one of our offshore outings.  This can be a feast or famine fishery and hours can tick by before one shows up in this chum slick. Some days they don’t show at all. This day it was like the scene was scripted. Little more than a half hour ticked by when a juvenile roughly 40-pounds or so suddenly appeared behind the boat. John methodically started tossing small chunks of partially frozen sardines to further arouse its interest, and when the mako began enthusiastically engulfing them Scott cast a Blados Crease Fly three feet in front of it and the mako pounced on it. Game on!  We were all stoked. Scott made the cross country trip from Massachusetts and he’s on to his first mako. Joe Blados is a good friend of all of us, and to my knowledge this is the first time that his classic pattern has been fished for makos. Scott put the wood to it, and it was immediately confirmed that this stick has the necessary backbone to thoroughly max the pressure on gamefish like this. So, I give it another A-plus. It’s not only is a well- honed casting tool, but also a very effective fish fighting stick.

 A rod’s visual appeal is a very subjective issue so all l can say is that to my mildly judgmental eyes, I think it looks good. I’m not a fan of loud or mixed colors on rods. This one is like a subdued claret and it befits the rod’s classy heritage.

 As far as components go, I am most impressed with the rod’s reel seat. I tried five different reels and found this design the most user friendly of any I’ve used including those on custom built rods. The reel’s foot easily slips into the appropriate slot, and you don’t have to guess if it’s properly positioned. Of, course the cork grip (very comfortable) and guides are all top notch, something I take for granted on a Sage rod. The one point I have to ding them on is that there are no alignment dots on the rod sections. For some reason Sage doesn’t incorporate them on any of their models. Granted that for most of my fishing career I’ve managed without them, but in my older years I’ve come to appreciate the extra help they provide in properly aligning the rod sections. It’s a minor feature but something you can rightfully expect on a rod with this price tag. Regarding the latter, because I’ve been at this so long, the days when say 600 plus dollars for a fly rod seemed a bit exorbitant are sadly gone and the thousand-dollar mark is now commonplace. At least what you’re getting for your dollar is long term usage and there are no maintenance costs. And with Sage of course there’s also pride of ownership. I’ll end by saying that this is a rod I would confidently fish, salt or fresh in any conditions a 9-weight is called for. It’s that good.