Sage ESN

[Kalvin Kaloz]

I saw this on another site but wanted to share here... Z is getting replaced by the ONE and now the addition of the ESN.  

Sage is also introducing a new line of rods specifically designed for the European Styles of Nymphing.  These rods will be 10' in length with line weights ranging from #2 up to a #4

Sage’s new European Style Nymph (ESN) rod is designed to fit most styles of European tournament nymph fishing. Whether it is Czech, Polish, French or Spanish Methods. This style of short-line, contact nymph fishing is quickly gaining popularity in North America but not without its critics.  Some still call it "high stick nymphing", while others will not even recognize it as fly fishing period. Toeach his own but no matter what you want to think about these methods, they are effective and we finally have an American company putting the time and effort into building the right rod for the job!!!

The Sage ESN has a brand new taper, built from the ground up by head rod designer, Jerry Siem which is made with a unique compound tapered mandrel. This light-weight rod has a completely new slim profile and a very supple, sensitive tip. This combination allows the angler to feel the bottom as well as takes and still have the power to quickly set the hook. If the tip was too fast like most anglers think it should be, you would not get the sensitivity to decode bottom from fish and miss a lot more takes. Having this softer tip section that transfers into a quick mid and butt section created the perfect balance of feel and power.

Features of the new Sage ESN rods:


• Medium action
• Konnetic Technology construction
• Forest Green shaft color
• Dark Green primary thread wraps with Gold trim wraps
• Fuji ceramic stripper guides
• Hard chromed snake guides
• High grade, custom tapered shaped half-wells cork handle
• Cocobolo wood reel seat insert with Dark Nickel colored aluminum reels seat components
• Evergreen colored powder coated aluminum tube with Gold components and Gold silk

Might be that 2wt I have been looking for!

[Alain Barthelemy]

Thanks for posting this, I'm sure it will be a winning product.

I am VERY surprised they are using snake guides for the factory rod.  In due time, I will probably get the 10-2 blank and have it done with single foot ring guides.  I used to be a skeptic, but now am enamored with the single foot guides for their ability to pass knotted leaders.  Slight weight savings may also result.  The one negative factor of using ring guides is the tendency of the leader to wrap around the rod; since the guides stick out slightly past the blank, there is a small surface to catch the leader.  Using supple mono leaders mitigates this effect.

Thanks again for alerting us to this new Sage offering.  "Competition improves the breed!"

[Mark Hanes]

Looks like the companies are taking notice to the current trend.  I hope this rod is a winner and who knows maybe it won't cost 700 bucks retail.

[Dave Wiese]

I'm guessing $795 on the ESN, but I'm sure the quality will be up the the high standards of Sage top-of-the-line rods. It's curious to me that on the other hand the Loomis and Echo rods are stripped down no-nonsense rods, all business with no frills. Personally I'd prefer the Loomis/Echo approach and could do without fancy wraps and fancy rod case and keep the price down a bit.

[Dejon Hamann]

I'll have a hard time shelling out that kind of dough regardless of quality when most other rods in class are half that retail.

Very intriguing though and the bit about the tip for sensitivity will probably keep running laps in my mind.

[Bob Lux]

I too would have a hard time shelling out $795 for a rod that I won't really be making true casts with. I have some other Sage rods and just love the way they cast, but for the Euro Style fishing you're usually not making these big long beautiful casts. I think I probably just stick with the Echos, Cabelas, etc for the Euro style rods since they are half the price of a Sage. Plus I can buy more of those rods  .

[Tom Shelly]

"Very intriguing though and the bit about the tip for sensitivity will probably keep running laps in my mind."

Me too.  A soft tip, will not transmit the bumps on the bottom just like the soft suspension of a car will not transmit the bumps on the road - it will absorb the bumps.  Ride in an old jeep with leaf springs (stiff) vs. an old Buick with soft suspension.  Try it yourself (not the cars - different types of rods).  I have.

With all that said, I have not seen or tried the new Sage Euro rods, they may be fantastic, but the principle expressed above in the ad is nonsense.

[Dave Wiese]

A couple posts after mine got me thinking more about the pricing of the Sage rod. I have all three Echo Shadows, Streamflex (first model) 3 & 4wt, and a Cabelas CZN 9 1/2' 3wt. Also let me mention that my ex-wife doesn't care how I spend my money. That said, I'm not sure what Sage could do to make me spend the price of the ESN rod. It would have to be at least 2x better than the others, which would be quite an accomplishment. I expect that their brand name/reputation carries a lot of sway with a lot of fishermen. Also there are plenty of fishermen out there that think if they spend a lot of $$$ on tackle that doing so will automatically make them better fishermen. I'm very curious to see how good these new rods are, but I seriously doubt that I'll own one any time soon.

[Mark Hanes]

Dave,

That is exactly how I feel about it.  I am sure it is going to be a great rod but the high end sages are just a bit to expensive.  I would be much more likely to shell out the cash for two rods that cost less I know I will break just about every rod I own at some point and most likely during or right before a big competition.  That said I do commend Sage for making a rod to fill the market gap the 99 just did not do it.

[Pat Weiss]

I dunno, I kind of like the sounds of it.  To me, it would depend on how much of the tip section was "soft".  If someone were to give me one to field test, that would be sweet!!!   I cant afford to pay attention right now, let alone $700+!!

[Todd Oishi]

Hmmm... the ESN fly rod sounds very similar to the design that I've experimented with and have been using for a little over 6 years now. All I can say is that I know that there are varying opinions of what constitutes a "decent" Euro nymphing fly rod, but this design works extremely well for my style of European Nymphing and is my "go to" fly rod for Czech and the other styles of nymphing that I use for my competition and recreational angling.

I'll post a full review of the ESN rod once I've had enough time to thoroughly field-test it...

[David Hemphill]

I'm sure the Sage ESN will be a great rod, but find it hard to spend that kind of money when I can get a great Euro nymphing rod blank for almost quarter of the price. I have some Sage equipment and it is great BUT have been using CTS blanks from New Zealand and they have blown me away. I have just received my second shipment of 6 CTS Czech nymph rod blanks for me and friends some of who have represented Australia  at world championchip level and all agree they are great rods, some of them got another blank on the second order as they were that impressed with the first.
I'm the first person to admit I'm not a great euro nymph fisherman but you know when you are using the rod its the right rod for the job. It casts my 25ft French leader beautifully and has enough meat in the but to handle reasonably large fish. I had a couple of cheaper 10ft 3/4# before these rods that weren't suitable but with the CTS rod i can now feel my nymphs when I Czech nymph. These rods are really worth a look. Dave

[John Killinger]

Looks like I may be getting another 3wt! I've tried the 4wt z axis and that is the Porsche of competition fly rods hands down. Very light and fast recovery.

[Paul Bourcq]

I had an interesting phone call recently from the owner of a HUGE fly fishing company.  He said he has "missed the boat" on these rods.  Made a "ill just build some ten footers" comment implying people would accept the rod.   He asked my opinion and I told him that people know what a good rod is.  Ten feet doesn't make it a great nymph rod just like "shrink it and pink it" doesn't make a good womens product neccesarily.  I certainly hope sage finds success and Siem talked with some comp guys.  I believe anglers knows good rod when they fish it.  But on the same token I have seen some good intentioned designs crash and burn.  Maybe they should have called todd about his frankensage rod lol.  Guess untill then we will wait and see

[Dave Wiese]

David,
 How about sharing more info on the CTS rods. On another note, I've built quite a few rods over the years (both for myself and for friends). It's allowed me to save quite a bit of $$$$ and configure rods the way I like, particularly the handle and guides. It's more difficult to do this now since many companies, such as Loomis, no longer sell blanks or like TFO, only offer select blanks (which often times don't interest me). Being a tackle "junkie", I'm always curious about equipment I'm not familiar with. So, inquiring minds want to know more about CTS rods.

Dave

[Michael Yelton]

The word on the street or at the fly shop I should say, is that Sage is doing away w/ the Z-axis. I guess that's what they have to do to keep selling rods. Hopefully they will just improve on it and call it some else. Kinda of like they did w/ the XP.

[David Hemphill]

Dave,
        CTS stands for composite tube systems is a New Zealand based company run by Stephen Pratt. If you call them you can talk to Stephen he tells you what can and can't be done with your rod blanks, I like the fact you can talk to the man in charge and get straight answers about rod blank designs and graphite's. The blanks are top shelf and compare to the big US rod company rods and blanks equally, a big call but one I believe. CTS roll a few blanks suitable for euro nymphing, The ones I use are a special order that anyone can order. The blank model is F01004-3 Affinity one . These rods aren't on there web site as a standard model but they will make them for you very quickly. The model we use is based on a rod given to some members of a fly fishing team in Australia, the company that made the rods ( Strudwick ) went out of bussines so the rods became unavailable but very sought after. After much searching and inquiring we have got the blanks re manufactured for us, although in a newer graphite. The proof was when I went to order another blank for myself I was asked to order 5 more for others! I am using 10ft #4 but is probably more a 3/4# than a full 4#. The price is very good and when we bought 6 at a time CTS kindly gave us 20 Percent bulk discount. As the US dollar is stronger than the NZ dollar when you do the conversion they are great value. We have built these rods light with graphite reel seats  and recoil single foot guides after a ceramic stripper. They are light in the hand and balance well with a small light weight reel which I feel is  important.
There web site is http://www.ctsfishing.com/flyfishing.php

I am just a happy customer and in no way associated with CTS.

Regards Dave

[Dave Wiese]

David,
 Thanks for the info. This looke like something I'll want to pursue..

[Mark Hanes]

Looks like the rod is up for sale already at just under $700. At $699 I will need some good reviews on this before I think about buying one.

http://www.fishwest.net/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=flyshop&Product_Code=SG21ESNR&Category_Code=008flyrods

[Bob Lux]

I wasn't going to buy it if it was $700, but at $699...I might have to get it.

[Dave Wiese]

I'm with mark on this, I'll be interested in reviews on the rod- not reviews from a mag, but feed-back from fisherman on this forum. If the reviews are that good, I might consider getting a blank and building one, assuming Sage will make the blank available....

[Mark Hanes]

The fact that they have a 2wt is cool and that might be a rod I will be interested in.  I am going to bet we will get a review from someone on here before to long.