Gear Review - Sage ONE 490-4 Fly Rod
Author: Tucker Ladd
What do you do when a complimentary Sage 490-4 ONE shows up at your door step to fish and review? That's right, take the day off of work and go fish it! .jpg)
There are many perks to my profession, but the one I enjoy the most is testing out new gear. I have always believed that we can better serve our customers by fishing the gear we sell, so if it means taking a day off work to try out one of the most talked about fly rods in years, well I guess I'll take one for the team. The testing grounds for the day were The Historic Lincoln Hills Fly Fishing Club, a rehabilitated section of South Boulder Creek chalk full of big fish. While it may not be the stream that the average angler would be fishing this rod, I figured it would be a great place to see if it would live up to the hype. The day was ideal with highs in the upper 60's, plenty of sun, active bugs and hungry fish.
Initial Impression
This fly rod is just sexy. From the "ice black" blank to the powder-coated tube, there is a lot to like about the ONE just by looking at it. Once fully rigged, the first thing you'll notice is how light weight it is. At 2.5 oz. for a 9' 4wt, this fly rod is one of the lightest on the market today. The other noticeable feature is the "half" wells cork grip. Available in all 3wt - 5wt ONE fly rods, this grip is somewhat of a hybrid of the standard cigar shape and the full wells that are found on most big game fly rods (i.e. 6wt and up). This will definitely throw some people off, but I can say after a day of fishing it that I really like this design.
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