I have a friend who is wanting me to build him a 2 piece, 7' 4wt fly rod. He has fished Sage rods only for a long time. He doesn't have a lot of experience with new Sage offerings and is not "in love" with any of the Sage products of the past few years. His favorite Sage series was the LL (Light Line) and he would like something similar for this build. Said he doesn't want something too fast or too slow. I have very little experience with light fly rods and have no idea what fast or slow of today is compared to a rod made 20 years ago. I did read the Sage ZXL series has a moderate progressive taper. Any suggestions? BTW, this does not have to be a Sage. -Thanks, Eric

All rods have progressive actions - the greater the load you place on them the farther the flex moves towards the butt of the rod.

The first thing you should do is ascertain exactly what your customer means by "action." Technically it refers to wher the rod initially flexes, but many fishermen use "action" to describe power. You need to make sure you're both on the same page.

If he is truly talking about action, where the rod initially flexes, you can attempt to find or run the AA figures on the LL series and then match it as close as possible with another blank of your choice.

If he's talking about power, you need to find out what his normal casting/fishing range is and select a model that will easily and fully load with the amount of 4-weight line that he normally has out. If you can do that, you'll have a very happy camper. Overall, most fishermen want a rod that's easy to cast. Making sure the weight and length of line he uses will easily load the selected rod is the overriding factor when it comes to him being able to easily cast the rod.

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The Sage "ZXL" is a very good choice if he preferred the feel of the "LL".
Another candidate would be the Winston "WT" very smooth and relaxed casting stroke similar to "LL"
Still another would be the Orvis "ZG" mid flex.

Eugene Moore

The Lamiglas Appalachian blanks they recently quit making were 3 piece and they made a 7 ft 3 wt and a 7 1/2 ft 4 wt I think he would be very pleased with. Angler's Workshop or some other dealer may still have a few. Globalflyfisher and other sites have given very good reviews of the finished factory rods and the blanks over the years, my 7 ft 3 wt is every bit as nice as my Sage SPL 3 wt., which is very similar to the LLs, under most situations.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2010 11:45AM by Spencer Phipps.

Not a blank any of the sponsors sell, but I've developed a liking for Elkhorn Blanks as they are quite similar to the Sage LL series in terms of action (med. to med./fast) and much easier on the wallet. I haven't personally built anything as short as 7', but their 8' and 8.5' - 2 and 3 wt. line series are an absolute joy to fish.

There are not a lot of choices for premium 2 piece blanks. They seem to be going the way of the dinosaurs. Newer multi-piece (even some 5 piece) rods flex smoothly. Of course the best way to choose the action that is perfect is for the user to cast the rod. The zxl I don't believe is available in 7' 4wt. The txl, is but in three pc. I've cast the 7' 10 inch 3 and 4 wt rods at a show. They were very light in hand, load smooth and easy up close and have enough power in the butt to deliver out to 50' or so without my thinking about it using the sage dt line. Accuracy was right on. Certainly very nice for small streams. I did not cast the 7' model. The color is well...non traditional metalic golden olive.

I own a Sage LL., and just built a new TXL (I really love it). The TXL is a lot lighter and a little faster than the LL. Sage makes The VT2, which is very close to the LL series in action and power and a Light Line aficionado would find it to be a great rod. The shortest blanks available are for the VT2 is 7'9" in a 3 & 4wt, I believe, actually the same lengths available in the old LL series. I agree that 2-piece rods are becoming dinosaurs. The VT2 is a 3 piece. I would have my friend cast some rods at a fly shop before you build for him. If not, I promise that the VT2 is the closest thing to a LL you can find.

Wow, thanks for all the help guys. I will let you know what we decide on. -Eric