ONE Love?

[addni]

Browsing through the occassional fly-fishing website, I've come across mixed reviews from people about the Sage ONE.

I personally am in love with them as I already own two and plan to get more, but I would love to hear from you guys what you think of them.

In my experience I went from being an avarage caster to almost being like Harry Potter (IMHO) with the stick! (of course helped along by lot more practicing and fishing)

So ONE owners (and not), what is your opinion?

 

[jaybo41]

My opinion of the ONE doesn't hold much value. I have only picked them up in fly shops and given them a wiggle. I have to say that I'm a little underwhelmed. Aesthetically, not great, not bad, but not a big fan of the full wells grip on trout rods. Also, the rod feels very stiff for my liking, almost too stiff. Again, I haven't cast one though. I am however slightly intrigued by the 7 and 8 wt's for a Steelhead/Salmon rod and would be curious about thoughts on these.

I do however LOVE my Z Axis rods and will stick with them for my 4 and 5 wt needs. I have an SLT that is becoming a spring creek favorite.

 

[MoscaPescador]

I have not put much time on the Sage One, so I am not going to comment - at least on the lighter rods.

I am however slightly intrigued by the 7 and 8 wt's for a Steelhead/Salmon rod and would be curious about thoughts on these.

I won't say anything about the 7 weight. I have not touched one.

I recently bought a new 9 foot 8 weight. The One in that configuration was on my short list. My criteria for choosing a rod were:
1. Throw a sparse Steelhead fly with a true 8 weight line without having to upline.
2. Equally throw a large deerhair popper on a 315 grain Rio Outbound Short line.
3. Be very accurate for me to throw the long bomb into the corner of the end zone with very little effort.
4. Be able to place topwater bass flies accurately at 15 feet as well as 50 feet.

Here is how my final two rod choices panned out.

For #1 and #2, both rods cast just fine with the two lines.

For #3, both rods were very accurate, but I felt that I had to work a bit more with the Sage. The rod that I chose eventually was a bit more forgiving.

For #4, the rod that I chose was more accurate from 15 to 50 feet with the bass bug.

The rod that I chose was a Hardy ProAxis. I have already fished it a few times. I am glad that I made that decision.

I will probably write a full review on that rod after I fish it for Striped Bass.

Dennis

 

[comeonavs]

I lawn casted a 9' 3WT and quite simply it was amazing. Very accurate at the 40' range and surprisingly efficient and accurate at 15' range. If I didnt have a 9' 4wt Zaxis and fished longer rods more often I would snag a Sage One in a hearbeat.

I would however go side by side with the new Hardy Zenith before mastering the moment just to make sure since I havent wiggled a Zenith yet.

 

[db cooper]

I am underwhelmed by the rod. When i compared it to the Zenith, BIIIX, and Helios, the ONE came in dead last. I ended up buying a Zenith and a Helios and have not looked back. I actually liked the cosmetics of the ONE compared to the Zenith which is hideous imho. The Orvis is by far the best looking imho. When casting the two side by side however, they are in different league with the Zenith and the Helios excelling.

 

[fredaevans]

Honestly haven't had the occasion to cast any of the rods mentioned above as the bulk of my fishing is with a 2-hander. That said, when I do use a one hander for river fishing (fishing tight to the bank aka short casting) I'm still in 'love' with my old 10' 7wt Sage XP.

For those of you who have cast/fish the XP how does it stack up against the newbies?

Fred

 

[jaybo41]

MP, thanks for the input. Very interesting write up and criteria to choose your rod. I always appreciate your input on gear. And I thought I loved gear

FAE, I have a 386-4 XP that I picked up used a couple of years ago. Great rod for spring creek fishing. It has the power of a 4wt which is wonderful when I am fishing in the wind, but the sensitivity and feel of a 3wt when you have a fish on. I know many have a love it or hate it relationship with these rods. Another great rod that I'm sorry to see go.

 

[mike63]

I have the 9ft 5 wt and have fished it a couple times. I did catch a fish on the first cast with it, so hey, it works. My impressions are below:

1. It blows away the Vantage. I had hard time feeling the Vantage load.
2. Switching to Rio Grand vs Rio Gold helps considerably with both of these rods. I find the Grand line easier to feel and cast but I only have a couple of light seasons under my belt in this sport. Line makes a difference.
3. You have to let the rod do the work and find a sweet spot in the cast, then it seems to excel...muscling it is like swinging a golf club too hard when you're pissed, counterproductive.
4. I'm going to do a side-by-side comparison with my Albright A-5 this week at the "practice pond" near my house just for curiousity sake. Will be interesting since I think my Albright does better in the 25 ft range but is lousy much past that.
5. I wouldn't put much stock in the opinions of those who have never fished the rod. The "wiggle test" at a fly shop really isn't experiencing the rod. You have to fish it. Brand loyalty in fly rods is like Ford vs. Chevy...some people just don't like Sage for whatever reason, and vice-versa.
6 I do think this rod is suited to a more experienced caster and for me, it's not as forgiving as advertised. I read a review that stated, "it's hard to make a bad cast with the One." Really? I can show you a bad cast.

I do really like it but it's not been "love" per se. I have a couple of long outings next week to decide for sure. Anyhow, my 2 cents.

 

[addni]

Great to hear all your input guys, good and bad. I agree with you Mike, that you have to let rod work it's own instead of forcing it. I have a Rio Gold on my 7wt, as I use that as an all-prupose rod, and Rio Outbound on my 8wt, which is mostly reserved for Atlantic Salmon fishing. The 8wt performs gorgeously with the Outbound.

As for other rods, it was actually a hard choice Between ONE and Winston B3x, but in the end my aggressive casting style leaned towards the ONE.

Haven't tried the Zenith, although I have heard wonderous things about it. It is however about 30% more expensive then Sage ONE here in Iceland.

 

[mike63]

I have heard the different weights of the rod don't compare well necessarily across the board with competitors. For example, the Yellowstone Angler review (yes, take it with a grain of salt) ranks the 6 wt Sage One much better than they do the 5wt vs the peer competition. Don't know.

I just spent an hour and a half at the fountain and waterfall spring in my neighborhood, about a 100 foot circular pond with a waterfall and multiple smaller concrete enclosed pools. I can't imagine a better place to learn to cast a fly rod. My eyes are burning from the forest fires ravaging the mountains about 10 miles away here in Colorado Springs but the session allowed me to take my mind off the doom and gloom of the fire.

I tried to do an honest comparison of the Sage One vs my $179 Albright A-5 using the same reel (Ross Evo LT 2 lined with Rio Grand). Walking around the pool with the light breeze at different angles was a great way to compare.

Outcome:
-- The Sage One will blast it out there and if you "punch it" just right into the wind it casts like a bullet. Tossing a 2-fly nymph rig with spilt spot and and an indicator will not be a problem, especially into the wind. The wind ALWAYS blows here, 99% of the time and Murphy's Law says the Big Fat Brown will be directly into the wind under an undercut bank just at the edge of casting range. Mending should be easy with the One also.
-- The rod does not seem to roll cast as well as the cheapo Albright on those 25-35 ft roll casts.
-- Albright has an old shoe feel to it, need to cast slower but the rod does shockingly well given the price. And, this is coming from a guy without a lot of experience.
-- One is a bit more accurate, even in close...but not $525 more accurate.
-- There is a tendency to want to muscle the Sage and you have to force yourself not to. I think this is just habit from not being used to casting such a light rod. It feels so light your mind says to strong arm it when not required.
-- Albright is great out to 40 ft or so and then starts to get a but mushy.

Bottom line: Practicing at this pond is making me a better caster :wiggle:

 

[utah daveii]

I won a 590 Sage one at the lcoal TU banquet this year and I love it. It is a different than any other rod I cat and it does take a little bit of getting used to. I also own a 590 VPS (RPL blank) and 590 SP. When I got the one I went out and cast all three rocs side by side. The VPS is a rod that I have never loved and it was not even a comparison to the One. I have always loved my 590 SP and it has been my workhorse for over a decade. I love that rod and It did not even compare to the sensitivity of the One. While I have not logged enough time side by side with the 590 Zenith to feel I can say which is better. I would say that the one is at least one of the two best 590 rods that I have ever cast. I feel it beats the BIIIX. I was never a huge z-axis fan, because I always thought it was a little stiff in the butt section. I have fished dry flies on the Provo with the One at very close range and did not feel that stiffness. It had remarkable touch in close for a fast action rod. That being said, it did take a few bad casts to get used to throwing nymph rigs. The rod recovers sooo fast if you stop it a little short it can throw an ugly cast. But in the ned it took me less than a quarter day fishing to change my cast to accomodate the rod. You need to know that expect a 590 to be able to handle small streamers all of my lake specialty lines. The only two things I do not expect a 590 to handle are my mousing and articulated streamers. I expect it to handle all of my dry fly fishing (except forthe aforementioned mousing in the wind) and all of my nymph rigs. I cannot fathom why anyone would fish a 6WT for standard dries.

In the 486 length. I have casted a few rods against each other several times and evaluated them. Right now I believe the Hardy Zenith to be the best, with the BIIX a close second at the 486 length with the One in third. The One performed very well but it just did not quite have the "feel" of the other two rods. These top three rods are all absolutely fantastic. In my 4 position I would put the ZXL and then at 5 the Scott A4 (considering it is just under 400 bills that is a very good place to be). Anyone buying any of these rods is making fantastic purchases, in my opinion. I believe the ZXL will soon be replaced by a rod using the same technology as the One. I believe this rod will quickly jump up into the either number one or number two spot. I believe that it will be a better rod than the BIIIX. In a 486 I am primariy looking for a dry fly rod that can also handle dry/droppers. As a result my bias is for rods that have some backbone to drive against while hauling, but the rod has definately got to have some bend in it. It is why I really like the BIIIX and zenith rods. Since I broke my 490 SP, I have been using my 383 SLT. It struggled a little bit with large dries and a dropper yesterday in a pretty decent breeze. I really need a 486 as the next rod in my quiver.