[Curtis]

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Okay, when these rods first came out, I though they were the ugliest rods I had ever seen. I mean, who ever thought of a rod blank in that color?!? Well, through the months, the color of the rod has kind of grown on me. Kind of like a fungus, but a fungus I have come to admire nonetheless. Having recently come to be in the market for a new three weight (yeah, like when are we NOT in the market for a new rod?), I started weighing my options. I pretty much narrowed my rods down to the Sage Lauch and the Scott V2. Since I have a V2 in a five weight, I already know that these are fantastic rods. Only issue was that they are a very moderate actioned rod and I wondered what that would translate into in a three weight. I want to be able to throw big bugs with the three weight so I decided to check out the Launch. Read some reviews first on the web and EVERYTHING I read was glowing. Next called and talked to Nate at Fishtech. He was very complimentary about them also so I decided to go and test them. The one I was looking at is the 7.5 foot two piece. Well, Nate strung her up with a WF4 since the reel foot broke off the 3wt reel. DANG CAST REELS!!! Went to the grass and Nate gave her a couple casts. He was amazed obviously with her performance. He handed her to me and I have to say, I was feeling the same way. VERY light in the hand. Almost like it was not even there. Very comfortable grip with the typical primo SAGE cork that is not too narrow or fat. Well, she was loading beautiful with about five feet of line out and then casting into about 50 feet of line like it was the same five. The rod is a medium fast action but VERY sensitive. You could feel every move you made with it. Cosmetics are great too, once you let the coppery, greenish, orangy, something color get inside your skin. Great nickel silver hardware top off a very functional piece of wood for a spacer. Guides are all stiff snake and the wraps are as good as on the TCR. No sloppiness here. And in this day and age of rods not having a tube with them, this one goes beyond with a very attractive green cordura tube with partition on the inner sock. Unfortunately, Nate only had the rack model and I am kind of leary about buying them as I see how some people thwack them against everything in the store. I checked around and found this rod at High Country Flyfishers in North Salt Lake and went and picked it up. $170 for a very nice stick. Another bonus is that High Country also threw in a very nice looking hat with their logo on it. Since I collect fly shop hats, this was a welcome gift.

With that said, I must say, if you are in the market for a new rod and don't want to spend the kids inheritance or if you do but want money for the fishing trip, check into the Launch series. You cannot go wrong.

[Outdoorarki]

I like the looks of them. I think that I am gonna get one in 5wt 8.6 with a cortland endurance reel.

[Curtis]

I think you will be very pleased. That is the size I use of mine the most. Extremely versatile and smooth. But make sure and go to www.thefullcreel.com and talk with Steve about that Endurance reel.

[Outdoorarki]

I ordered the cortland reel and silk line from Steve today.

[ffffg]

as i said i just ordered a sage ds.. so this of little importance to me.. but im curius about a local sage dealer heres' statements.... he told me the sage launch was weak.... i asked what he meant and he said it doesnt have real power.. im not relating exactly what he said but i think that is the gist of what he was saying.. is the sage launch a good pole for the money, not really stepping up to the sage 600 dollar rods?. which i could understand.. .. or is this dealer pushing for the 615 dollar sales.. or maybe he just likes a stiff rod?? there is no way an ameture like me could totally utilize a 615 dollar pole, physically or in hours of use.. also im a traditionalist, that is, if it was good enough to be a nice piece 20 years ago, its good enough for me to use today... i always go with the tried and tru, and wait for the price to drop several years after that.. to each his own, if you like the newest best thats fine.. but this dealer is strongly opinianated, and id like some of your opinions of the weakness of the launch compared to the top end sage poles.. thanks dave..

[Curtis]

Originally Posted by ffffg

as i said i just ordered a sage ds.. so this of little importance to me.. but im curius about a local sage dealer heres' statements.... he told me the sage launch was weak.... i asked what he meant and he said it doesnt have real power.. im not relating exactly what he said but i think that is the gist of what he was saying.. is the sage launch a good pole for the money, not really stepping up to the sage 600 dollar rods?. which i could understand.. .. or is this dealer pushing for the 615 dollar sales.. or maybe he just likes a stiff rod?? there is no way an ameture like me could totally utilize a 615 dollar pole, physically or in hours of use.. also im a traditionalist, that is, if it was good enough to be a nice piece 20 years ago, its good enough for me to use today... i always go with the tried and tru, and wait for the price to drop several years after that.. to each his own, if you like the newest best thats fine.. but this dealer is strongly opinianated, and id like some of your opinions of the weakness of the launch compared to the top end sage poles.. thanks dave..

That guy is trying to sell the top end stuff and is blowing smoke. The Launch is anything but "weak." While it is not a broom stick like so many of the parking lot rods that are put out lately, it will hold it's own. I can throw sixty feet of line without a thought with my five weight and when I want to double haul, eighty is not a problem. I have not really gone beyond that but I have no doubt with the right timing it would do it just fine. I have caught some large fish also with this rod and it has the power to bring them in quick. It is a medium fast rod with lot's of feel.

[Lucy]

hey all, im new to this forum. Ive done some fly fishing up in Maine, but my recent move put me down in florida where I'm looking into some salt water fly fishing. for now it will be in the banana river, thats on the oposite side of cocoa beach. just bought a 9' 8wt sage launch rod which ill be throwing in to the water for the first time next weekend. I was liking what Curtis had to say about the action of the launch. I was more curious if how you think the 8wt line will handle one the rod?

[catman]

I have (2) Sage Launch rods, one in a 590-4 5wt and a 586-2 5wt, they are pretty true to line weight, you might be able to go one more line wt. larger and get away with it. I just can't say for sure. I like mine, they are Med-Fast just the speed I like on my wide tail waters.
I hate to say, but they throw a Shark Skin Trout line very well, I like the Shark Line on mine......Hell with the guide noise I can't hear anything anyway.

[fly baller]

im new to flyfishing and just picked up a launch in the 4piece 5wt a few days ago... a few days of throwin it in the yard and i can feel the 15-25 foot casts load nicely and it tosses the line smoothly. great rod for the money