I recently purchased a Sage TXL 00 and was wondering if anyone else who had built one on here had any advice or tips for this rod or light weight rods in general. I really look forward to using this rod and don't want to screw it up.

Thanks,
Brant

A skeleton cap & ring or double rings reelseat with a cork insert, a cork grip to fit your hand, and a # 8 C/BLAG Alconite fly guide for a stripping guide with the lightest single foot snakes available to and for the tip. Use a Forhan locking wrap on each guide. Minimise the wraps. Pearsoll's Gossamer or Naples silk is perfect for this. Take your time, don't get ahead of yourself. Ralph

I own several of these rods (Different weights) and I went with the sized down struble up locking nickel silver reel seat same as the factory rods. It is light (Maybe not as light as all cork with rings), but not significantly heavier. My reels on these rods are too valuable to me. The thought of hearing one plop into the drink and watching it bounce along the river bed was enough to keep me from going with rings.

Ralph and Paul both make good points. The factory Sage is overbuilt in my opinion, but a NS cap and ring set doesn't save much over an aluminum screw seat and the screw lock is a lot more secure. You can save weight with a 2 ounce reel and/or aluminum cap and ring. You will notice the short grip on the factory Sage, which I like. I would suggest building with double foot RECs because of their flex. Single foot RECs as a second choice. Silk thread is good with a minimum amount of finish.

Paul, Don, have either of you made your own cork insert for either a cap & ring or a double ring reelseat? I admit the ones you buy ready made have problems with some reel feet not fitting snugly. But if you make the cork insert to fit Your reel's foot you'll not have a problem with the rings loosening. The ready made inserts are made to fit most reel teef so they fit very few well. This means they're too small in diameter for most reel feet. When I build an insert for a cap & ring or double ring reelseat I make sure of the fit with the reel which will be used on that rod. Look at the REC seats #CRAS- HDWR Alum. & PLRN & PLRN-HDWR nickelsilver reelseats at REC on the left. Either would be great on the 00. Ralph

If at first you don't succeed, go fishing, then try, try again.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2006 05:57PM by Ralph Jones.

Ralph,

Yes, I have and do make my own inserts. I agree that it can be done, in fact I use a lot of cap and ring seats on the bamboos I build. Goldenwitch hardware is nice for cap and ring seats because they have addressed the issues of fit and snugness. I guess personally I have found that cork tends to compress at the reel foot over time, and then you have the looseness. You can turn or shape cork to your reel, but I don't use the same reel all the time. You can try a hardwood cap and ring seat, but if I am going hardwood, I am going uplock nickel silver. But, like most of this it is a matter of what you like and want to see on your rod. Although bamboo purists will not like this, I prefer uplock nickel silver on my personal bamboos over the cap and ring seats, but i still mill both types for my customers.

Thanks for all the advice. I will post a picture on here when I'm done.

Brant

I don't turn my own cork inserts and so have used the Cortland hardware. A pocket cap and ring is more secure than double rings. I really would like to try a couple of mortized cork inserts for some non-pocketed hardware. Is this feasible Paul? Don

Don,

What I have done in the past with cork is similar to what Orvis would do on their one and two weights. They would use cork with two rings, and totally flatten the area where the reel would mount. Cork is soft and workable enough that you could do more of a mortise, but I would think it need to be done by hand. You could make a sanding block that has a cove of the appropriate size, and glue sandpaper to that profile and sand away, until the mortise is appropriate. Just a thought.

I mortise my cork seats (by hand with folded sandpaper and careful work) just deeply enough to hold the reel foot from sliding side to side. REC used to offer mortised cork seats, but they discontinued them some years back, probably because doing it with a mill would be about as much of a pain as mortising rubber. I never have problems with reels falling out of my seats, but I have learned some lessons about cork/ring seats over the years: Use the very best cork you can find for seats (I pick out seat corks from every batch first and set them aside); Glue it under pressure with an adhesive that can withstand some wetting and dries flexible, like Titebond III--epoxy makes hard glue lines that can cause trouble in later years; Make sure the reel is fitted to the seat very well (flattened or mortised) and that the rings don't dig into the cork or the reel foot (I like the old un-adonized feet that used to come on CFO's and still come on Hardy Lightweight series reels because the unfinished aluminum surface "grabs" the inside of the ring better and the feet can be filed/sanded for a better fit without making them look horrible, and I'm very critical of sliding ring design--currently using the rings from the Struble "27" series seats; don't ever leave a reel mounted to the rod overnight--let the cork recover between fishing trips; be prepared to mount a new seat in the future when the original wears out, because they eventually will. One thing I have considered but haven't yet tried is making cork/ring seats from rubberized cork rings, although I make a butt piece for my double ring seats from rubberized cork and it works great--looks good with a little varnish rubbed in, too.

Brant

You are going to have some fun!
I just returned form a trip last weekend fishing my just finished TXL 0710-3 for Golden Trout in the Sierras, (Troy Meadows and Horseshoe Meadows)
Awesome rod.
I used a Golden Witch cap and ring seat, snakes with silk and Diamondite Resin. No bubbles like the Sage made.
Total weight 1.92 oz. ( Sage factory are 1.937 or 1,15/16 oz.)

Good Luck

Bill