Sage R8 Core

[bartdezwaan]

So this rod is out there for a while now.
I am currently not meeting people who own the latest gear.
So out of curiosity. Any one had his hands on this latest and greatest Sage rod? What do you think of it?

Cheers, Bart

[Graeme H]

I've had a casting session with all of the rods in the range.

They are all quite capable and to my own preferences, are among the best rods Sage has produced for quite some time. They feel less stiff in my hands, closer to being "properly rated" to the lines they are labelled for.

Of the rods we had in front of us, I liked the 8'6" 5wt a lot, possibly due to the MED5 we had on it (i.e. it was actually a 5wt line). That rod felt like a well-balanced 5wt rod to me.

Remember though: I am a big fane of Paul's HT range of rods. I still prefer them to the R8 rods.

Cheers,
Graeme

[nicholasfmoore]

Would you say they are more tippy than the X? The #5 X was a bad distance rod, perfectly fine for fishing, though.

All the best

[Graeme H]

I haven't tried to cast a bunch of the Sage X rods at one time (and only had good exposure to the 10 wt from that family of rods). It has also been many years since I had a Sage X in my hands for a trial. From memory, the 10wt X felt a bit "dead" and I was not terribly impressed with it. In other words, not a rod I would have sought.

Asking me to compare the R8 rods with a 10wt X is not going to result in a meaningful answer. I did not have a 10 wt R8 to cast and there were many years between those two sessions. However, I did like most of the R8 rods and thought they'd be nice fishing rods. I'd be happy to own and fish any of the R8 rods I did cast.*

Cheers,
Graeme

* I'm not fussy though - any rod with a line and a hook is something I'm happy to be holding in that moment ...