Good Topics Keep Coming Back

Like the topic below that Bill posted, this is really good reading. And there's something we can all relate to by wanting the BEST.
I've been fly fishing for over sixty years. Not the whole time, but it gradually grew and grew. I can't remember the brand of my first fly rod but I remember getting it at the Sears store in Arden Fair when that was the only store there. Probably a J.C.Higgens and taking it shad fishing below the old Fair Oaks bridge before the Sunrise bridge and boulevard were even put in.

As for SAGE, I had a customer come into my store (Big O Tires) and we got to talking about fly fishing. He asked me if I'd ever heard of SAGE fly rods? He was a traveling salesman and took his fly rods with him wherever he went. We went out to his car and he opened his trunk and there had to be six or eight SAGE rods all in tubes. Rigging one up to let me try out in the parking lot was my first experience with casting a SAGE. What a difference from the old glass rods I had been using. A few days later I had to go to Sacramento and I stopped at Fly Fishing Specialties in Rancho Cordova and bought my first SAGE. Close to where Kiene's shop is now.

My Big O store was in Vacaville and a few years later Toby Uppinghouse opened a fly shop across the highway from me called Fly Fishing Unlimited. He came into my store one day and needed some tires for his truck. I was just about to go to Baja on one of Jay's trips and Toby says he's got the perfect rod for Baja for me, a Winston 10wt BRX. He let me cast it, and Toby got his tires and I got my first Winston. Wow, what a rod. Boron Extreme.

Another SAGE story was when my wife and I were fishing shad at Verona on the mouth of the Feather River. I had rigged her up with a SAGE Rpl 4wt. and myself with a 6 wt. After a few shad each we traded rods and she found the 6wt. much more to her liking. On the ride home she asks if we do this again she wants to use the 6 wt.. Before we got through Sacramento I swung over to Marconi Ave and stopped at Bill's old store and bought her her first SAGE Rpl+ 6wt.

Yes, good toys are a pleasure.
Tony

Great recollections on rods.

The first fly rod I had was a Cortland starter rod that came with a reel and line. After a couple of years of fishing and learning to cast I tried a 5 weight Sage LL which I still have. It was used and on consignment. My first thought on trying it was I am not the bad caster I thought I was I just needed a $500 graphite rod. After that I made three Sage rods from blemish blanks that sold with the parts needed for $100 or so. They worked well but they don’t come with a repair plan so two of the are broken and at the landfill and the third one which is a 7’ 9” 2 weight I still have. That was a fun rod on the small streams when I used to do that a lot. Now I just want striper and bass rods. I need a new striper rod. Loomis make a 2 piece rod I am thinking is what I need. I won’t travel well but it won’t go further than the Delta so that is okay.

Great point John.....

Very few fly rod makers still produce 2-piece fly rods.

If you fish locally or from a watercraft, 2-piece rods are great.


Captain Andy Guibord is always looking for used 2-piece fly rods.

Fewer ferrules to worry about tightening up while fishing.

John, you might put "WTB" on the Classifieds.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by John H

Great recollections on rods.

The first fly rod I had was a Cortland starter rod that came with a reel and line. After a couple of years of fishing and learning to cast I tried a 5 weight Sage LL which I still have. It was used and on consignment. My first thought on trying it was I am not the bad caster I thought I was I just needed a $500 graphite rod. After that I made three Sage rods from blemish blanks that sold with the parts needed for $100 or so. They worked well but they don’t come with a repair plan so two of the are broken and at the landfill and the third one which is a 7’ 9” 2 weight I still have. That was a fun rod on the small streams when I used to do that a lot. Now I just want striper and bass rods. I need a new striper rod. Loomis make a 2 piece rod I am thinking is what I need. I won’t travel well but it won’t go further than the Delta so that is okay.

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I have a couple of 8 wt and 9 wt 2-piece rods. PM me if interested.

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