Sage’s close ties to nearby Seattle-based Boeing affords the company unique access to cutting-edge advancements in materials, giving Sage’s engineers the opportunity to spend their days in a very sciencey looking lab tinkering with new graphites and resins and testing their creations on Instron machines and the casting pond behind the factory. For me, that rod was Sage’s Z-Axis, another one of Sage’s cult-like followings and a rod that has served as my personal yardstick by which I’ve measured all other rods (well, trout rods at least) since I first cast one.Įach of those rods was borne of Sage’s consistent devotion to developing not just new rod designs but new materials from which to build them. And, over the years, that’s what Siem and Green and Sage have been so good at: making rods that turned out to be the it rod for more anglers than anyone else. Despite what anyone tells you, rods aren’t good or bad all by themselves, rods are good or bad for individual anglers. But why? If you think that it is because the RPL and XP were inherently better rods than those that came before or after them, you’re wrong. Sage rods of yesteryear like the RPL and XP have cult-like followings. Sage’s chief rod designer, Jerry Siem, and before him the renowned Don Green, have spent the better part of those four decades designing some of the finest fishing tools the industry has ever seen. That said, it may be equally hard to imagine that when Sage introduced the X back in June, the Bainbridge Island rod maker hadn’t reached its biggest milestone to date.Īs the 10th flagship fly rod for Sage, the X marks the culmination of over 35 years of not just experience, but experience amongst the industry leaders in rod making. What makes a new rod a company’s biggest release ever? Or most important? Or even most noteworthy? It’s hard to imagine any objective measure.

Irepo x reviews