Gear Review: Sage One Five Weight

After fishing the Sage One 9-foot 5-weight on the Missouri river last spring I came to one conclusion. The rod can do it all. Short, medium and long distance it’s a joy to cast. It is fast and powerful, much like Sage’s older XP. Given that the rod is on the stiff side it definitely lacks a little bit of the touch necessary for shorter casts and behaves much better at medium to long distances. Over the course of the day the rod was rigged with an indicator rig as well as small dries and casts were made at varying lengths in moderate winds. The rod has enough backbone to generate line speed and make tough casts in demanding conditions, regardless of whether you’re casting heavy tungsten-headed nymphs or large foamy dries or anything in between. The rod casts particularly well when it’s slightly over lined, lines like Scientific Angler’s GPX or Rio’s Rio Grand allow the rod to load super easily.  Due to the lack of lateral movement the rod is very accurate. The rod performed exceptionally well all day, even when the wind picked up in the afternoon. At 2 3/4 oz. the One is extremely light in hand. The rod is also gorgeous, the walnut wood insert in the reel seat and ceramic stripper guides look really nice with the dark color of the rod. Unlike many of their new rods, Sage stuck with a cleaner more classic look.