[bonefish41]

IMO: My 10 wt home built TCR is the best flyrod I have ever fished with...I have fished with other sages, my winstons 11 and 12, and orvis, scott, loomis and winston 10 wts..this year with my reel and line...this is FLA keys flats and smallie river fishing for testing and comparison...now I cannot say the same for the TCR 6, 8 and 9 in similar comparisons...the difference between the above makes were not, in those wts, as remarkable as the 10 wt TCR...it was the permit rod but it also caught bonefish and tarpon 60-80... Now the BUT...The full retail is 780.00. the blank from fly shop and parts from REC came to 468.00...now if you shop for kit pricing the total package can be at or about 410-420...it's only with kit pricing can you cut some slack off full tilt retail 'cause sage is fair traded aka fixed price retail
IMO home built high end rod/blank is the best bang for the buck

[Frank Whiton]

Hi Bonefish,

The Sage TCR is a heck of a rod and I am surprised that you didn't think the lighter weights cast as good as some other makers. I only know about the 6wt and it seems to be a super rod to me. Don't get me wrong, I understand you are not saying the lighter weights are not a good rod. It is very true that certain rods weights by certain makers are super rods but if you try a different length or different weight in the same rod, it just doesn't cast the same. Rod design is a complicated thing and I am surprised that the makers do as good a job as they do.

Thanks for the heads up on the TCR 10wt. You are right about building your own rod from a kit. Just about anybody can do it with not too much equipment. The hardware in the kits are the same that the maker uses on the completed rod.

[NMrodblder]

Originally Posted by Frank Whiton

Hi Bonefish,

The Sage TCR is a heck of a rod

Ahh TCR lover! The TCr doesn't seems to me believable.to be the mysterious 700+ dollar demanding robd sage makes it out to be. Honestly is only a slight step up from the XP or Z axis from what I can tell.

I will say that it is very temperamental demping on line (at least at the lower wieghts).

I have a 4 wt TCR that I HATED until I tried some heavier wieghted line on it.
There is a a study from Berkely that actually when through a "tuning" session with rods that I have found pretty dang accurate and usefull when matching frequencies of rods with line. As it turns out in my case the rod was tuned right, but the lines varied a lot. In the rio wtf series it was good, in a cortand 5wt is was unbelievable!

[Frank Whiton]

NMrodblder,

You make a very good point of matching the line to the rod. This is especially true with the fast action rods. I have a 9'6" 5wt sage that I bought and was so disappointed in its performance. I tried a SA GPX line and it made it into my favorite rod. Just that 1/2 line extra weight was all it needed.

Where can I see that Berkley study?

Frank

[NMrodblder]

Originally Posted by Frank Whiton

NMrodblder,
Where can I see that Berkley study?
Frank

Frank,
The study is a little dated (rod blank wise) but anyone wanting to go through the test scheme, it is pretty dang interesting. Occasionally I will find a rod thats natural f doesn't match it action.

What we need next is the same study for line!

Here is it, I haven't been able to the graph up, but the data is there.

FLY ROD EVALUATION AND CALIBRATION