Opinions among sage ONE 490, 586 or 590?

[suan]

Hello everybody
Looking for opinions among these rods

I Own the 490 but never tried the other two
I was thinking about getting a 5wt only for dry fly fishing in medium rivers or small nymphs unweighted

Which is the best and more accurate ?
Thanks a lot in advance

 

[sparsegraystubble]

I just bought the ONE 590 for much the same use. But I am in Wyoming and fish lakes as well. With our wind, the 5 is a better every day rod, and the 9 foot is a bit better for lakes whee long casts are an advantage.

But really, any of those three rods would be excellent. It really is a matter of which you enjoy casting the most. Just don’t make the mistake of using a heavy line on any of those rods.

 

[omas]

I have cast the 586 and liked it a lot. I have been trying to find a used one in my price range off and on for over a year. Not many hit the used market. On the other hand, there are lots of used 590s on the used market. You can probably find one for $400.00 or less. Good luck

 

[spt2]

I can't answer your question since I've only cast the 490 and 890 ONEs. However, ironically, I was fishing Black Joe Lake in the Wind River Range last year, and it was very windy, and I remember thinking, I wish I had my 490 ONE with me! I had a 486 ZXL, a great rod, but the Wyoming wind was just blowing my line out of the sky....

 

[suan]

Thanks for The replies ��

 

[sweetandsalt]

I love 9'/#5 ONE as a dry fly rod on bigger rivers and 8 1/2'/#5 X on more modest sized rivers.

 

[colonelklinkhammer]

ive had the 490 590 596 690 and 890 in the one. I think out of all of the rods the 490 is the most suitable for dries but no where close to my first choice. with how fast they are the short game suffers a ton. out of that lineup the 890 was my favorite it had no problem chucking a 250 grain sinktip into the wind 80 feet. sure casting big foam hoppers at 60+ is amazing but your normal 20-40 ft game stinks unless you way overline it. I think the ONE with never fill the shoes of the Zaxis. I replaced them with a 860 ZAxis 590 zenith,5100 zenith and 690 zenith, they all have there place in my quiver. zenith 590 blows the doors off the ONE, but inside of 20 with dries it could be better. im drooling over the scott g series 588 for a short game dry rod...

 

[sweetandsalt]

ive had the 490 590 596 690 and 890 in the one. I think out of all of the rods the 490 is the most suitable for dries but no where close to my first choice. with how fast they are the short game suffers a ton. out of that lineup the 890 was my favorite it had no problem chucking a 250 grain sinktip into the wind 80 feet. sure casting big foam hoppers at 60+ is amazing but your normal 20-40 ft game stinks unless you way overline it. I think the ONE with never fill the shoes of the Zaxis. I replaced them with a 860 ZAxis 590 zenith,5100 zenith and 690 zenith, they all have there place in my quiver. zenith 590 blows the doors off the ONE, but inside of 20 with dries it could be better. im drooling over the scott g series 588 for a short game dry rod...

Each of us has our own opinions based on where we fish and with what methods. Sticking with dry fly presentation, I own a Sage Z-Axis #5 which I fished and enjoyed for years. I got a very early example of ONE #5 and was a bit skeptical, my initial impression was it was not as intuitive as Z and had a much quicker tip. My Burkheimer fishing friend I first fished the ONE with tried it and hated it. But I kept bringing it with me that spring and it grew on me; it could place a Hendrikson in the most complex of lies with unprecedented precision and its scalpel-like tip is masterful at line manipulation, far better than my familiar and still fine Z-Axis. By the time I headed West in June, Z was snoring in the dark of its tube and ONE reigned supreme. It established itself on the Henry's Fork and Missouri and remains the dominant rod among my small group of friends that ply these technical rivers. I have tried differing lines on it and at first settled on Gold but Dillon and I did some experimentation and both decide it was even sharper with true weight, extra long head, SA MEDT. I can't travel with one 9'/#5 and added a Zenith #5 which I regard as the best of the 4-pc. Zeniths and it proved a fine companion under more general less technical applications with its more traditional medium fast progressive taper. I have subsequently upgraded the Zenith with its "improved" cousin, Douglas SKY and added remarkable Loomis NRX #5 too. It is hard to chose which one to fish. Two years ago I added 8 1/2'/#4 ONE which quickly became my spring creek specialist; it is brilliant and last season I added 8 1/2'/#5 X which quickly elevated to be my medium sized river favorite. It does not posses the big river prowess of ONE or NRX but its in-close game is extraordinary.

Rods I have not tested are 9'/#4 ONE, 9'/#5 Method or any of the Little ONEs. My brace of 6-weights are Method and NRX. I have fished a guides 9'/#9 ONE and did not care for it and a couple of weeks ago we had a nice custom 9'/#8 ONE on our boat ostensibly for my wife...I liked it better than she did but it suffered in comparison to the other 8-weights we had on the skiff, NRX and excellent Stickman T8. I prefer ONEs in trout sizes...oh, and I do not find them "stiff", rather lively and precise though not their core game, are easy to cast off the tip for a short shot but hey, that is what I have 8 1/2'/#5 X for.

 

[furnacefella]

ive had the 490 590 596 690 and 890 in the one. I think out of all of the rods the 490 is the most suitable for dries but no where close to my first choice. with how fast they are the short game suffers a ton. out of that lineup the 890 was my favorite it had no problem chucking a 250 grain sinktip into the wind 80 feet. sure casting big foam hoppers at 60+ is amazing but your normal 20-40 ft game stinks unless you way overline it. I think the ONE with never fill the shoes of the Zaxis. I replaced them with a 860 ZAxis 590 zenith,5100 zenith and 690 zenith, they all have there place in my quiver. zenith 590 blows the doors off the ONE, but inside of 20 with dries it could be better. im drooling over the scott g series 588 for a short game dry rod...

If you like G5 technology and want the ultimate "short game" rod, you should try to find a ZXL 486. It is a very special rod.

As far as One vs Zenith vs Z-Axis, I think the line is very fine. I have the Z-Axis in 906, the Zenith in 586 and the One in 490. 9 times out of 10 I grab One even when numbers suggest I do otherwise.

 

[colonelklinkhammer]

I also didn’t care for the 990 One, I forgot I even owned one for a couple weeks before selling it I liked the 890 more

 

[el jefe]

If you like G5 technology and want the ultimate "short game" rod, you should try to find a ZXL 486. It is a very special rod.

As far as One vs Zenith vs Z-Axis, I think the line is very fine. I have the Z-Axis in 906, the Zenith in 586 and the One in 490. 9 times out of 10 I grab One even when numbers suggest I do otherwise.

The Sage ZXL series of rods just might be the best series of trout rods ever built, neck-and-neck with the Scott G series. I can't decide which series I like better. Between the 486 ZXL and the Scott GS 884, are there better trout rods?

 

[myt1]

I just returned from an almost two week trip to New Mexico and I fished my 9' ONE 5 wt. a lot.

But after reading some of the above posts, I'm wondering if I'm doing it wrong. The ONE is my nymphing rod. I use it to cast double nymphs and sometimes as many as four number 6 split shots...I use all that weight to get things down quickly on the San Juan and I thought I caught more and larger fish as a result.

To me the ONE isn't only a fast rod, but it is a relatively stiff rod and I felt like I needed that stiffness to cast the heavy nymph set-up.

Again, maybe I'm doing it wrong, but when I want to fish dry flies I want a rod with a lot of feel and I opt for my NRX LP. It can easily handle the weight of a dry fly, but it isn't that great with a heavy nymph rig.

Maybe it is because I use the ONE in a not very finesse sort of way that I consider it more of a Craftsman tool type of rod and my NRX LP more as some sort of fine musical instrument.

One thing I really like about the ONE though is how it feels with a fish on, something that I really haven't heard anyone mention. Even with a modest size fish on it bends fairly deep into the blank, which I like, yet it is stiff enough that I feel like I can do a really good job of controlling the fish. I don't always feel like I can control a fish that well if it is larger and I'm using my NRX LP.

 

[fishing hobo]

If you like G5 technology and want the ultimate "short game" rod, you should try to find a ZXL 486. It is a very special rod.

I second that statement. A lovely rod to cast and play fish with.

 

[colonelklinkhammer]

your right the ONE does have a place nymphing, I think its much better at nymphing and streamers than dries.

 

[furnacefella]

I don't want to sound argumentative but One is the definition of a dry fly rod. It is incredibly accurate and throws tighter loops than any fly rod I have ever handled. It shines delivering delicate presentations in difficult circumstances like gusting or unpredictable winds.

Heavy buggers, streamers, nymph rigs and/or thingamabobbers are best delivered with an open loop to avoid loop collapse. Generally this is more of a searching type of fishing where a person heaves a payload into a general area. Tight loops and line speed are not needed or wanted as the inertia of the rig is enough to buck any wind or inconsistencies in the cast.

Anyway, we all have our own styles and if it works well why change.

 

[falcon53]

I don't want to sound argumentative but One is the definition of a dry fly rod. It is incredibly accurate and throws tighter loops than any fly rod I have ever handled. It shines delivering delicate presentations in difficult circumstances like gusting or unpredictable winds.

Heavy buggers, streamers, nymph rigs and/or thingamabobbers are best delivered with an open loop to avoid loop collapse. Generally this is more of a searching type of fishing where a person heaves a payload into a general area. Tight loops and line speed are not needed or wanted as the inertia of the rig is enough to buck any wind or inconsistencies in the cast.

Anyway, we all have our own styles and if it works well why change.

I too concur!

 

[sweetandsalt]

I don't want to sound argumentative but One is the definition of a dry fly rod. It is incredibly accurate and throws tighter loops than any fly rod I have ever handled. It shines delivering delicate presentations in difficult circumstances like gusting or unpredictable winds.

Heavy buggers, streamers, nymph rigs and/or thingamabobbers are best delivered with an open loop to avoid loop collapse. Generally this is more of a searching type of fishing where a person heaves a payload into a general area. Tight loops and line speed are not needed or wanted as the inertia of the rig is enough to buck any wind or inconsistencies in the cast.

Anyway, we all have our own styles and if it works well why change.

+3. This is what I was trying to say above. Well put. I will add though, as I have before, that ONE is not a dry fly specialty wonder for everyangler. It involves communicating with the line with ultimate transparency as opposed to feeling the flex of the rod mass under load. It is my definition of a larger river technical dry fly masterpiece while (I don't own one but am familiar with) NRX LP which I see as a great generalist particularly for dead drift nymphing as it posses the shock absorbing flex for striking the blind take.

 

[dillon]

I too, only use my one 486 and 590 for dry fly fishing and small dries at that. I did google some reviews of the 590 and they were across the board. Some thought it was a great nymph rod and others lauded it's fast action and lightness for dry fly presentation. I would highly recommend reading SweetandSalts essay on the importance of high line speed and tight loops for technical, delicate, dry fly presentation. If the One is also good for lobbing nymph rigs and split shot with a wide loop or water haul, then so be it. However, I don't think it was designed with that purpose in mind. I also think the x, replaced the one because its action makes it more of an all around rod than the one, and therefore will hook more of us...

Now I'm going to walk down to the river with my old XP and a new Cortland triangular tapered line to search the banks with a big bushy dry fly.

 

[sparsegraystubble]

Having just bought a SAge ONE 590, largely based on comments here from Sweet & Salt and others, I’m going to jump in here. I have only fished the rod 4 or 5 times in local lakes and on a small private access stream that is loaded with lots of big fish.

I am using it as an all around rod, but I chose it knowing that it would be great for dries and manageable for nymphs, streamers and lakes. I catch many more fish with the wet stuff, but want the rod to be capable and fun for dries.

For years I bought the idea of slow rods for dries. My long-time all around trout rod was the old Orvis Spring Creek graphite — maybe one of the slowest graphite rods available in the 80s.

I still love fishing some of those rods, but when fishing dries in Idaho, I discovered that if a rod wouldn’t turn over a long leader tippet with authority in the wind, that you were often out of the game. A beautiful long cast to a rising trout would almost make it there and then the wind would blow the tippet upstream or down so drag set in immediately. That’s why I replaced my Sage SP with an RPL+ just to get that kind of positive leader turnover.

I find the ONE to be delicate and quick, but far from stiff. Today I landed a 25 inch rainbow on an olive cone head bugger. The rod was fine in all aspects including a fairly stiff wind. I hope the wind is down tomorrow so I can get a chance to use this rod for dry flies.But it will work however the conditions dictate that I fish. Wish I could say the same about my knots and my presentation.

Don

 

[eastfly66]

Now I'm going to walk down to the river with my old XP and a new Cortland triangular tapered line to search the banks with a big bushy dry fly.

Any chance you can tell me about this new line ? I didn't see it on the Cortland page ?