Sage 8129 Z Axis - Is this the rod for me

[DarthVedder]

Hey everyone, new to the site and have already found a bunch of cool info. I just ordered the Sage 8129 blank kit from anglers habitat and was wondering if anyone has fished this rod and would be familiar with its capabilities, I intend to use it for winter runs on the Vedder (I live a block away), and the Thompson. I know this is a shorter rod, wondering if it will be able to bomb it out on the Thompson. Any suggestion to what a good line for that rod would be? Thought I would get some advice while I anxiously await the UPS guy. Just getting into spey fishing, hoping this rod will serve me well for a many years.

[robin]

Congrats on the rod. I've been fishing it for a few years and love it. To answer your first question - yes, it can throw a lot of line. That requires the right line, practice, patience and good coaching. My coach has helped improve my casting thereby increasing my fishing opportunities. Plug for the coaches.

I am fortunate to be able run different setups for the rod depending on the river. First is a 600g Airflo Delta Spey Mutlitip for traditonal casting and is what I normally train with and as such is my comfort zone. If you had one line to start with this should probably be it. Next, is a 550g Rio Skagit Flight with MOW Tips in Medium and Heavy which is perfect for Wet Coast rivers and what I use 95% of the time on the Island. Finally is a 7/8 Rio AFS head for Scandi style of casting which is what I would use on the Thompson if I could ever get back there at the right time. That line gets distance. Hope this helps.

[DarthVedder]

That’s great info, I’m a happy man. Can’t wait to practice at the Fraser where there is lots of room and no people. Thank you, I now have some new items for my Christmas wish list. Merry Christmas!!

[btree]

Ya, with a 12'9" rod, you will have plenty of length to toss long casts with both traditional lines as well as shooting heads like the AFS/Elixer or the various Skagit lines.

Simon Gawesworth has 3 PDF documents which give grain and line recommendations for most modern rods:http://www.speyborn.com/speyborn_2011_006.htm I'm sure that your rod will be in this document: http://www.rioproducts.com/skin/summ...ine%20Recs.pdf It echoe's Robin's advise.

I have a 12'6" 7/8 spey which is well lined with a ~550 grain 50-60 ft midbelly spey, or a 475-500 grain skandi. I tend to not fish a skagit since I rarely take my monster tube flies out and I find that the skandi line gets me out of tight quarters, but if you want to toss the big flies, then you likely will enjoy the skagit. But regardless, I would not feel undergunned on a large river with a rod under 13ft.

[robin]

Simon is the one who selected the AFS line for me when I first purchased the rod - he was in Victoria doing a clinic. Later he recommended the Flight (not just because he works for Rio) but he thought it was a better line to handle intruders and large tube flies for the Island. My local coach selected the Delta for training purposes.

[DarthVedder]

I think I will follow your advice and start with the Airflo while I work through the learning curve, then add the skagit. Great info onthe Rio lines.
Thanks Guys

[btree]

Sounds like a good choice - there seem to be a few different schools of thought around figuring out one's rod:

Some prefer to start with the skagit because it's so caster friendly and you can get right to fishing.

Other's think you should learn the basics on a more traditional line so that you don't develop any bad habits and bad muscle memory (ie. delta, windcutter or even a double taper).

And then there are the skandi first folks - I've found that if you learned to do various switch and spey casts with a single hander, then the transition to a skandi head on a shortish spey is a natural transition where you can keep a very similar rhythm to the single hander - quick and punchy. The hard part is making the move to skagit casting where you gotta go so darn slow, or going to a longer belly where smoothness and a longer stroke are necessary.

Probably in your case, going with the Delta is a perfect place to start since it sounds like you are likely to be fishing larger rivers where the longer belly will allow greater line control. One can toss a chicken and a bike chain with that line with practice, but it's not always necessary. Often it's easier to cast a smaller fly on a heavy tip rather than a massive weighted fly on a light tip. Any way, have fun!