[SalmonAddict]

I managed to pick up a fly rod from a Gent in Minnesota, who unfortunately fell victim to a "priority marriage" versus weekend fishing. As such a victim (which some of us can relate to) he decided to dump his 9'4" 8wt steelhead rod with fighting butt that he received as a gift from a friend who had the rod custom built, and never had a chance to use it. Although it came with sage rod tube and rod bag, there is no silkscreen of a sage model number or such. So my question is - Is there any way that I can validate that I got a nice brand new 8wt Sage fly rod and what series it might be or did this newbie get duped by pretty wrapping? (can't seem to figure a way to post a picture, so sorry if that would have helped)

So Gurus of flyrods, any helpful insights on this one? (depending on how embarassing your feedback is, I may share how much I paid... :)

 

[marko]

It is pretty hard to hide the quality and craftmenship of a rod of this calibre.My guess is that
if this unit does not bear the logo,someone either intercepted the blank in mid production or
a fault had been detected and should have gone in the garbage. This could be a minor flaw
that will never amount to anything but part of the big price is the piece of mind that you'll
never need to buy another one...Marko

 

[SalmonAddict]

Thx Marco... Rod looks great and doesn't appear to have any flaws, but that's just an amateurs perspective... the only silkscreen is the custom rod builder's and it is very subtle, nothing else on the rod except the rootbeer shimmer of the blank itself... If every sage blank comes silkscreened then I can't imagine why a custom builder would remove it... I guess the "duped" category is starting to tilt the scale a little... :'(

 

[JBarns]

Can you post any pictures? If the rod is a SAGE blank there will be a dark serial number just above the cork grip, you'll need a bright light to read it. You can also inspect the ferrules, which Sage usually doesn't wrap due to extra graphite in these locations.

I think another indicator is the quality of the cork and reel seat. Is it nickel silver or graphite? If the rod is good quality and casts well, then you've go a great rod. If you where sold the rod as a SAGE and it isn't, try getting your $$ back.

 

[SalmonAddict]

Thanks J... the best I could post is in my avatar... no serial of anykind on the blank or near the cork... as for quality, appears good to an amateur eye, but at 25 below I can't tell if its cast well or not because the "line behaves a little differently" at this temperature... eagerness can not overcome mother nature - yet again another lesson learned...