luckydude
07-08-2012, 07:43 PM
I finally made it into Kiene's this weekend. A grand lighter in my wallet and out I went. Sigh.
One impulse buy was the Sage 3wt. I had ordered a Winston Passport in 3wt from Yellowstone somebody (they do the shootouts, google 5wt shootout) and they sent me a 4wt instead. I didn't notice, fished it, oops, too late to send it back.
So while I was there I tried several 3wt rods and ended up walking out with the Sage Vantage.
What I wanted it for was small pocket water, I have some close to my house and I fish a lot in the Sierras.
When I got home, I took the Sage 3wt, the Winston Passport 4wt, and a St Croix Imperial 4wt out to the pasture to cast and compare. The Sage was 7', Winston 7.5' and St Croix was 8'.
I liked the Sage best, then the St Croix. I have to hand it to Kienes, I asked them about the passport and they sort of politely passed, but having tried all of them, yeah, I'll pass on the passport. It's OK, better than OK, but the Sage and the St Croix are better.
So then I went down to the creek with the Sage rigged up with a caddis and the St Croix rigged up with a parachute adams. It was clear the fish liked the adams better but I liked the sage better. People say it is a medium rod, I found it to be fairly fast (but I'm not expert, if they say it's medium they are probably right). I'm pretty sure I could load it up with 4wt line and it would work fine.
I loved the short length, I was flipping that fly under logs I couldn't do before and we caught the biggest fish yet in that creek on the sage.
This rod has pulled me back into the Sage camp, I had left for the Hardy Zenith, but I love this rod.
One impulse buy was the Sage 3wt. I had ordered a Winston Passport in 3wt from Yellowstone somebody (they do the shootouts, google 5wt shootout) and they sent me a 4wt instead. I didn't notice, fished it, oops, too late to send it back.
So while I was there I tried several 3wt rods and ended up walking out with the Sage Vantage.
What I wanted it for was small pocket water, I have some close to my house and I fish a lot in the Sierras.
When I got home, I took the Sage 3wt, the Winston Passport 4wt, and a St Croix Imperial 4wt out to the pasture to cast and compare. The Sage was 7', Winston 7.5' and St Croix was 8'.
I liked the Sage best, then the St Croix. I have to hand it to Kienes, I asked them about the passport and they sort of politely passed, but having tried all of them, yeah, I'll pass on the passport. It's OK, better than OK, but the Sage and the St Croix are better.
So then I went down to the creek with the Sage rigged up with a caddis and the St Croix rigged up with a parachute adams. It was clear the fish liked the adams better but I liked the sage better. People say it is a medium rod, I found it to be fairly fast (but I'm not expert, if they say it's medium they are probably right). I'm pretty sure I could load it up with 4wt line and it would work fine.
I loved the short length, I was flipping that fly under logs I couldn't do before and we caught the biggest fish yet in that creek on the sage.
This rod has pulled me back into the Sage camp, I had left for the Hardy Zenith, but I love this rod.