Sage Classic R8

SAGE CLASSIC R8

Growing up fishing bamboo, I always thought slower action fly rods were my cup of tea. Then I cast my first graphite- an early Orvis and I was anything but impressed. However, as time progressed graphite actions improved. My parents were Sage dealers and I had the opportunity to fish a number of their actions. It wasn’t long before my cane rods sat in the closet and quite frankly, I moved on to graphite. I know all of my friends who fish cane will roll their eyes and disown me, but in all fairness I saw the value in rods that were lighter, cast easier, and were far more accurate. They made me a better caster and a better angler. 

Ok enough said, and most of you know of my long association with Sage. When Sage first introduced the light line family of rods I immediately became a fan. For my home waters on the east coast and the spring creeks that I fish, the LL slower action protected the 6 and 7x tippets that I often had to use and they certainly helped with presentation and landing some very nice fish. When Sage's newest series, the R8’s came out, my first reaction was how much better can we make a fly rod. Because I spend a fair amount of our winter in Argentina, I relied on three R8’s- first a 490-4, then a 590-4, and finally a 796-4. It was the perfect trilogy for my needs in that environment. Then back home in March,  I fished my first blue quill hatch of the season.  As usual I had a 490-4 LL matched to a Rio Gold Rio Gold to get the job done. Life was good yet I found myself missing the R8 490. Then FedEx left two rod tubes on my cabin's back porch. Two Sage R8  Classics- a 490-4 and a 590-4. I had heard nothing but good things from two different Sage reps but it would be my first opportunity to actually spend some time with one. This was perfect timing and the next morning I lined up the 490-4 with a Sage Spectrum LT reel lined with a Rio Gold WF 4 floating line.

I parked the Land Rover next to the lot pool as we call it here on Fishing Creek. There is a fairly long lawn along side the pool  so before I actually fished the new fly rod I decided to spend a little time casting the fly line and flyless tapered leader on the lawn. First and foremost the rich brown finish is just the start of a very impressive fly rod. The handle size was perfect the reel seat was a true complement to the rod. But when I started to extend the cast I was amazed at how easy and smooth it behaved. I stated earlier that that after fishing an R8  how much better can we make a fly rod but this light and slower action Sage simply became a part of me. It turned over fifty and sixty foot cast with no effort at all. Ok I’m obviously impressed, but its more then that and after putting the new Classic through its paces from presentation to handling one large trout I’m simply blown away.

Will it travel to Argentina and other destinations that I host? Absolutely . I can think of many spring creeks like the Rio Malleo and Tecka in Argentina that on windless days it would be perfect, the little Nire in Ireland and more. Its not the rod to throw a size 8 super beetle on the Limay or a Super Bugger on the Corcovado but it has its place in my quiver of fly rods. You can bet whenever the opportunity presents its self, the Sage Classic 490 will go to work.