I've always fished a Scott 5wt as my all round rod but am waiting to get a I am 8 wt primarily for Largemouth Bass. I was seeing if any of you guys had the SAGE II 7'11'' rod and what you thought. I am also looking at getting a 10Ft. What do you guys think? Also, what line is best for each rod. Thanks!

Josh A.

I had a Sage Smallmouth rod for a few years. It casted big flies as advertised, but I didn't really like the line it came with. Ended up selling it because I prefer using my 9ft 8wt with Wulff Bermuda saltwater line.

i like my TFO mini mag with 10wt rio outbound short floating line. its a good setup and i think you would like it also.

what is your reasoning on the 10' rod? its good for nymph fishing, but not really a bass rod.

I was going to be fishing a pretty large lake usually and heard that 10ft might help in the wind and distance. Do you use a 10 weight when fishing for bass? Is it heavy for all those casts?

I think 2fish was just referring to the line wt. The Sage smallmouth rod is like a 7 wt rod, but it came with 290 grain line which might be considered a 9-10 wt line to turn over big bass flies. I've never needed a 10 ft rod to fish for bass, most of my casts are within 30-40ft(usually fishing in the yak),casting next to some kind of structure. IMO, if you plan on throwing big flies around cover, just look for a rod with a lot of back bone.. ie.. Sage bass series, TFO mini mags. An 8 to 9 ft rod would work just fine.

I do a lot fishing on wind blown points for Stripers, and and 8wt works fine. Altough, for some of the windier days, a 9wt would be nice for a little more distance. I don't think I would use a 10wt unless I'm fishing for Muskie up north or in salt for big permit.

Picking a rod for bass has so much to do with your personal prefence. I had an extremely fast action 7'11" fly rod designed for bass that I didn't really care for that much. I personally like a rod that flexes more during the cast and when playing a fish. I currently have an 8ft Fenwick FF80 (fiberglass rod from the 60s) that I use for bass. It flexes better than a fast rod which makes casting at shorter distances easier (I'm usually casting less than 40ft when bass fishing) and still has plenty of power to huck big flies and haul in nice bass. Just my opinion, though.

Think about the water you primarily fish on. I fish a lot of stock ponds, streams and small rivers and have landed plenty of bass up to 5 lbs of short 5 and 6 wt rods. However, an 8 wt with appropriate line will help you cover a lot of ground on the lakes and bigger rivers.

I use the Ross 8wt fly stick and I couldn't be any happier. That rod with a ross fly rise reel on it and a good line is a great bass set up for probably just under 400 rod and reel life time warranty