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3. Sage Rod ID

New to the forum, and purpose is to ID a Sage rod gifted to our community 2nd hand store which sells items to support our food shelf, and based on the ID to price it for sale. The only ID on the rod is Sage Graphite #6-7 Line, 9'0". It is a two piece rod and is in a shiny aluminum case with the SAGE logo. It also is in a cloth 2 compartment case, one for each of the two pieces of the rod. Any info would be appreciated.

Jebatty,

Almost everything you need to know about the rod is provided in the information you posted.

It is a Sage fly rod (Sage is one of the top brands of fly rods) It is obviously 9' long and it casts either a #6 or #7 tapered fly line. Typically, at least in my experience, fly rods are designed to cast one "weight" fly line better than all others. Good fly casters can normally use one line weight above, or below, the line recommended on the rod.

I've never seen a fly rod listing two line weights. The most important piece of information that is needed to determine the value of the rod seems to be missing. That is the model name. Sage manufactures probably at least a dozen models, or series, of fly rods. The prices can be as high as $850 for the top of the line to lesser priced rods around $350.

Often the model of the rod is marked on the cap that screws into that aluminum case. If it isn't there sometimes it is marked on the butt of the rod a few inches above the cork grip. If you could provide a picture of the handle area and where the reel gets mounted that would help some of the forum members to tell you what model you have so you can price it accordingly.

Many rod manufacturers have a serial number etched onto the blank, underneath the finish, the number is located a few inches above the handle. It is hard to see and you need to be in the sunlight and rotate the butt section so you can see the number. If it has a number you can contact Sage directly and tell them your story and give them the number and they will be able to tell you what model it is. Hope this helps.

"I've never seen a fly rod listing two line weights." Well, it's been a while, but in my early days of fly fishing (mid 80s) there were a lot of rods that listed two weights, e.g., 4-5 weight, 9-10 weight (I have an old Fisher 2-piece 9.5-footer that says 9-10), etc. Like I said, it's been a while, as these days you pretty much see only one weight of line written on the rod. Just sayin', and so this rod could very well be from that era.

Jonathon

Jonathon,

Are you on break? It seems you have a lot of time to post.

I am teaching two classes, but no, that does not take up much of my time right now, and I have no consulting work at the moment (waiting on that for some $$$). Right now am going through a lot of stress in my life - I'll spare you the details on here, will send you a PM later concerning such, and I'm finding all this posting is helping with the stress. So yes, I do seem to be commenting on just about every new thread that pops up. Of course I'm doing it just to pass you in the number of posts, and I see I already have! No, not really, but I do comment when I feel like I have something to add...don't we all?

I'll send the PM later, as I am teaching today from 1-4 p.m. Gotta go get in the shower right now!

Jonathon

I apologize for the ignorance, but I do not see how to attach pictures of the rod which I have on my computer. What is the way to do that?

The missing model name is what perplexed me. I see nothing on either end of the aluminum rod case. I'm still looking to see if I can find a serial number.

Hello Jebatty,

Well it isn't very easy to post a picture on the forum you are using now. However if you go up to the margin, below the banner picture, you will see a black band with the words "Fly Fishing Forum". Click on that and scroll down to "Share and Discuss Photography". Click on that, then click on "New Topic". Then you can add a title in the box provided and then click "Save and Attach Pictures".

After that just open your picture folder, highlight it and click whatever your format say. Either "send" or "Attach" you get my point?

Opened a Sage Rod ID in Photography. Thanks. Could this rod be a factory or salesman sample? I have no idea of when it was made.

Hi Jebatty-

This rod was manufactured by Sage, probably in the mid 80's. I bought an identically marked new rod from Kaufmann's Streamborn Fly Shop in Bellevue WA.

From your photo, I suspect that the butt section of this 2-piece rod was sanded during the manufacturing process, and the tip section was not sanded during the manufacturing process. If I am correct, that would indicate that the tip section may have gotten broken, and was replaced by someone (surely not by Sage) with a cheaper priced unsanded tip section. Please see a photo of my rod for purpose of comparison.

Thanks for the info. With the comment by Wbranch in the picture thread, we have a guide to pricing the rod. The aluminum case with the Sage logo may be worth a good piece of the total price.

Matt...Roger...Maybe someone wrapped this rod on their own and omitted the details you seek...SN, model #, etc...

Spence

Hi Spence-

Having purchased one from a Sage dealer for $90 in the mid 80's, and still using it as a backup rod to this day, I believe the entry level fly rods manufactured by Sage in the mid 80's were absent serial numbers, and were only marked as GRAPHITE (1st generation graphite), recommended line weight, and length, as mine:

Taxon wrote.



I was unaware of the absence of the serial numbers on the early 1st generation Sage rods. Thanks for including the picture of your rod as it very clearly depicts the very visible spiral wraps of the graphite cloth.