Every Rod Deserves a Second Chance

So a lot of you probably remember back in October when I was excitedly awaiting the delivery of my Sage Xi3 9wt after having fished one for a few weeks. My meeting was met with elation and slobbery drooling as I thought of pitching 8" long flies on a rod that weighed about as much as most companies 6 weights...

Then there was "the break" and it was painful. The first day out on the river with my new rod and I'd already destroyed it, not only that, it blew up in the butt section! I was pissed to say the least. A $700 saltwater rod should not blow up while fishing for trout with streamers I said to myself. I sent back the rod to Sage with a detailed explanation of what had happened. I figured to get it repaired and right back to me - to Sage's credit they actually called me and talked to me about what had happened and I was told that I was the first one to blow one up in that fashion (exploded butt section). After that conversation I was assured that other problems like the one I had experienced weren't widespread, and short of telling me that it wouldn't happen again, I was told not to worry.

Bad ass, I was the first one to blow up a rod in the butt section, me a lowly streamer fisherman in Bozeman, Montana - especially since the Xi3 was the most highly anticipated Salt Water rod on the market in years and had been in the hands of hundred's of other anglers before me.

So now months later after having had this stick in my hand on a few more streamer trips, fishing it out of the boat, fishing it on wade trips, and putting it to the test (just see the flies in the photo here - 8" is no lie) I have to say it's everything I had hoped for and more. This is the best streamer stick that I've ever had in my hands, no doubt in my mind. It has no spine, so you can cast it on any angle, switch sides of the boat, cast on different planes than you normally would (I won't bore you with the scientific jargon). The best part - it weighs a paltry 4oz - less than most of the streamers I'm tossing on it, literally...

It's got the power to pick up a Type 6 9wt sinking line and with one double haul power 60-70 feet of line and bunny mess right into a 2ft x 2ft target area, not too shabby if you ask me. The rod feels as good in hand as it looks too - the sexy blue finish would be great for the salt where you'd see it sparkle all the time, you know, look pretty and all. That doesn't matter to me one bit since I'll be using it before the sun is out during the summer months and on gray nasty rainy crappy days in the spring and fall - streamer weather, so it might as well be dirt brown and scratched up... but it does look good. I'll be sure to let you know just how great it is when it's laying next to that 30" brown trout this year, until then I'll be abusing it on a river in search of that fish...