
It was a couple of months back when the Sage R8 Classic came through the store. Everybody in the store had the chance to cast it and right off the bat all of us were satisfied. This rod is Sage’s take on a medium action dry fly particular trout rod and they definitely provided. The precious Trout LL has actually taken a rear seats and has actually been changed by a more recent dry fishing pole, the Classic R8. Chocked filled with Sage’s most recent Transformation 8 innovation, this rod is a terrific compliment to the R8 household.
Sage’s whole marketing project for this rod is focused around decreasing. This is exactly what the blank designers over at Sage did too. This rod has a contemporary moderate action with a softer idea and more mid-flex than the R8. This indicates it can more delicately provide a fly, it has more tactile feed pull back the spinal column and into your hand, and it is more efficient in tossing slack mends and feeding line downstream. When fishing technical dry fly water, this is precisely what you desire a high-end dry fishing pole to do. The seasoned fly angler will likely delight in the feel of this rod. Recently, rods have actually unquestionably gotten faster and, as an outcome, compromised feel. For lots of skilled anglers that matured with bamboo, glass, or any slower rods, this will be a good go back to something more familiar. The rod is likewise extremely light which actually assists you to decrease and utilize it delicately as it was planned. The rods look admires lots of traditional Sage rods. The rod sports the renowned brown Sage blank and is embellished with beige and chestnut guide covers. It can be found in a caramel rod sock, loaded into a traditional off-white/cream vintage looking Sage rod tube.

You will see this rod actually marketed as a dry fly particular rod. While I definitely concur that it is particularly appealing to the dry fly angler, I think this rod has a broader variety of applications than some will confess. Like I stated this rod has all of the active ingredients to make a wonderful dry fishing pole. Its action and feel actually deals with casting little to medium sized dries. It preforms well up close, and holds its own at range too while casting a single dry. Its modern-day innovation actually permits this and for it to be a flexible rod in your quiver. Lots of people associate a rods action with its power. Significance, a sluggish rod will do not have power, vice versa. The Timeless R8 is an enjoyable surprise in hand; due to Sage’s groundbreaking graphite innovation, this rod has the ability to preserve a medium action, while having an unexpected quantity of power considering its feel. As an outcome, this rod can swinging soft hackles, tossing little dry dropper setups, light nymph rigs, along with tossing little banners. You might need to decrease your cast a little, however this is what the Timeless R8 is everything about: decreasing, observing whats around you, making modifications, feeling linked not just to your rod, however the river you discover yourself in. Often that indicates decreasing and altering your method, and this rod enables that.

The lineup offers you a range of alternatives from 3-6wt. Beginning at the bottom the 3wt rods can be found in 2 lengths: 8ft and 8ft 6in. The 4wt rods can be found in 8ft 6in and 9ft. The 5wts are available in 8ft 6in and 9ft. Lastly the 6wt just can be found in a 9 footer.
- Beginning with the 380 or 8 foot 3wt, this rod is your blue liners dream. For anglers going after little fish on little tributaries this is an incredible alternative.
- For anglers on bigger tributaries than your blueline trickles, the 386 is a much better alternative. This is my go to rod if I’m going to be investing great deals of time checking out the valley tribs, or up on the creeks on the pass. This or the 486 are the rod I ‘d give the Driftless, or another location with little spring creeks.
- Successive the 486 is another great alternative for our valley tributaries where you might run into bigger trout. It likewise has more foundation to turn fish far from particles than the 386. Anything much shorter than a 9 footer is terrific due to the fact that it permits you to avoid the trees.
- The 490 is your technical dry fishing pole. The complete length makes it really fragile at laying a fly out to the pickiest of trout. This is a terrific rod for spring creeks or lakes with terrific dry fly fishing due to the fact that it is so fragile.
- The 586 is a terrific alternative for locations with brush on smaller sized creeks, or particularly windy locations. The much shorter rod is a little snappier and will punch through the wind well. This indicates it likewise will manage wind much better.
- The 590 is your do it all. This is likewise the rod that likely will offer one of the most. here is where we enter not just a wonderful dry fishing pole, however one that can begin to toss flies aside from dries. This is the kind of 590 that a long period of time fly angler has actually been missing out on the feel of. We ‘d like this rod both out of a drift boat or fishing on foot on the Mckenzie or upper Willamette.
- The last rod in the lineup is the 690 and it is your lower Deschutes salmonfly stick. It likewise is a wonderful rod for locations with high densities of big trout like Montana and New Zealand.

Selecting lines for rods can be frustrating to lots of anglers, particularly brand-new ones. Even skilled anglers may ask: What sets best with this brand-new rod? There is one really crucial response to this with all of the brand-new Classic R8 sizes … DO NOT OVER-LINE IT! If you do, you will mess up an ideal rod. The rod was made to be utilized with a line that is real to size, and a line of the like is what it needs to be coupled with. In our casting demonstration, we utilized aRio Elite Technical trout WF5F This line actually drew out the very best in the rod and enabled it to preform both at close quarters, and far. Another terrific alternative would be theScientific Angler Amplitude Textured Trout Wf5F This rod likewise can be found in a smooth alternative, however the texture permits this rod to shoot line like nobody organization. I fish on foot typically and having the capability to feed line downstream is important for me. This is not just a terrific upstream dry fly line, however it likewise preforms wonderfully for downstream discussions. The last tip we have is the brand-new Rio Elite Gold line. Rio has actually upgraded their Rio Gold taper to more carefully show a real to weight line. This would be another great line for the rod. Putting a half size heavy or a brief size, more effective head would do an injustice to this rod.

In our casting video, we combined the rod with a Flint colored Sage Click in a size 4,5,6. This actually coupled with the rod perfectly with how light the rod is. A Sage Trout reel has a more traditional ported appearance and a terrific drag; it would likewise make a beautiful pairing with this rod. If you like click and pawl reels, you might like a Hardy Lightweight or a smaller sized Marquis orBougle A Galvan Brookie would be terrific remote control for the smaller sized rods. I personally like remote controls and feel that a traditional looking reel from Sage or Hardy would match the rod perfectly. A remote control reel will actually match the feel of this rod. Another 2 particularly light-weight alternatives would be a Nautilus XM or aSage Spectrum Lt A Bauer Rx 1-3 or Galvin Torque or Rush Lt would be other American made alternatives that would combine perfectly.

There are lots of Pros and far less Cons with this rod which is what any rod designer would like to hear. The most apparent is it is a wonderful dry fishing pole. Another plus is that it can be found in a number of sizes, so there is a Traditional R8 for almost any fishery. A significant plus is, for those very long time anglers that do not like the feel of faster rods, that this will be a revitalizing rod to utilize. It is a good mix of a more traditional feel loaded with modern-day innovation. Finally, the rod is likewise flexible, it can hold its own successfully changing in between disciplines as long as you keep it fairly light. Some cons are that the rod actually does not have the foundation to toss genuine heavy rigs. This indicates you streamer addicts, or guys tossing huge double nymph rigs will have problem getting this rod to do that. Putting a sinking line on this rod will be an unpleasant experience, and need to land you in prison. Another con is that faster rods have actually assisted fix lots of anglers errors. This rod needs more exact timing to get the most out of it than its faster equivalents. Some people casting design actually deals with quicker action rods, so if this is you this rod might not work completely for you the very first time you choose it up. That does not suggest it wont, you might need to operate at retiming your cast to get the most out of this rod.

The Timeless R8 is a revitalizing action back to the continuous barrage of quick action rods that fill the market today. That appears to be precisely what Sage planned with this rod, they desire this to be a relaxing, sluggish, meditative, revitalizing rod to utilize. I believe in todays world all of us might pay for to decrease, the principles of the R8 is simply that. I hope, while utilizing your brand-new R8 Classic, you can decrease this upcoming season and exist on the body of water most spiritual to you.
We ‘d like for you to visit the store and examine them out. If you live out of state, please offer us a ring (541) 342-7005 or email us: Support@caddisflyshop.com and choose our brain. We ‘d like to discuss what kind of fishing you do, in what type or drain, and discover a Traditional R8 that fits you the very best.
– Simon