New Spey rods from Sage for 2008

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

They have two new Spey rods:

12'6" # 5 line in 4 piece which we cast with a new Rio 'AFS' floating head. Really great casting rod especially nice for Halfpounders.

12'9" # 8 line in 4 piece that is a killer rod for winter fishing with heavy fast sinking tips and big flies. We got one of these in late Friday and we sold it in about 5 minutes from the time Aaron put it out on the rod rack.

[Pfloyyd]

Thanks for the update on new Sage rods Bill-
Anyone care to elaborate on advantages of 'shorter' 8 & 9 wt. spey rods for winter/heavy work? I'm relatively new to two-handers, and currently fish with Gary Anderson's 13'9 7wt., and 15'1 8 wt. 5pc. I'm fishing comfortably with both, but am considering adding one more (of course) to the collection for large Intruder-type flies & winter fish.

[nrthcsteel]

well I think its more of a preference than an advantage. I think everyone has a rod/rods they like with skagit lines. For me personally I like a rod from 12'6" to 13"6" for skagit. I also only really use skagit lines when casting heavy tips and big flies. I use a sustained anchor cast where there is a pause between the setup and the sweep/cast. This allows the sink tip to sink some and really provides a good anchor. Personally I like to use as short a skagit head that carries max grains. I dont like using cheaters. They say as a base your line length should be from 3- 3.5 times the length of the rod. I lean towards the 3x. With slightly more grainage in a short head it requires very little effort to load the road. Thus you dont need much room for a dloop. I was fishing last week and wanted to fish a couple of back to the wall runs. I usually use a 13' rod with a scandi line and polyleader setup. total line length from the end of the head to the fly is about 50 feet +/-. While I could have used this in the situation I would have had to be aware of my dloop and maybe punch out the cast a little more. Instead I took a 12' 6" rod put a skagit head that was 480 grains at 22' and added 10' of T-8. 3 feet of leader put me at 35' to the fly from the rod tip. It took very little d loop and effort to make casts from 50-60 feet. It was much more effortless than banging it out there with the scandi line. Granted they arent the prettiest looking casts but as Dec Hogan says"style points dont count just get it out there" Again its all personal preference you just need to play around and find a combo that works for you. I got to cast that 8129. I cast it with a Rio ASF 7/8. Felt really good, but there was definatly some reserve power not even being tapped. Would have liked to try it with a skagit head and some tips. It was nice though. But it was like driving a lamborghini the speed limit, Its nice and enjoyable to drive but it would be really nice to open her up. I felt like I was in about third gear with that AFS line, would like to get that rod into fourth,fifth and sixth! Anyway enough rambling on hope this helps. Kevin

[Pfloyyd]

Kevin-
Thanks for the thoughtful remarks. I've been using Rio's AFS head on my 13'9 7wt. for summer's on the Rogue & Deschutes and am very pleased with the the distance and tight loops using flies ranging from 4-10. I had limited experience in January of this year on the Smith with my 15'er and an Airflo 7/8 Skagit and fist-sized (OK- small fist...) Intruders and marabous with barbell eyes. Because it is recommended that you add a cheater with longer rods (I'm kinda tall too- 6'5) I experimented with both floating and intermediate 10' & 5', with mixed/poor results- the best of which seemed to be a 5' intermediate for moderately heavy 1-1/0 bugs. I still was not satisfied with limited distances and sloppy results of casting that mess- had to fold down my earflaps, advise innocent bystanders to stand back, etc. I was not using a Skagit cast, but rather the snap-t and snake roll, and noticed that with heavier bugs & tips I really had to be on the ball with my timing as big.dense/heavy things sink in a hurry. I'm rambling too I guess, but it was interesting to hear your concern for limited D-loop room as another reason for the shorter rod/Skagit line solution. Lots of things to think about- I'll definitely try a few setups before I decide what I need. Nice to have access to good advice. Thanks again