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It's not what you think. To understand the Sage series one really needs to cast actual fishing flies on the water with one. Unfortunately that is almost impossible to do until you've bought the thing. That said, here's a review of actual fishing time with the rods.

Joe C.

Not to defend Sage, but it should be pointed out that the names of the rods are metaphorical and not necessarily indicative of the species for which the rod is designed. I consider the choice of naming convention to be an unfortunate marketing error on Sage's part. The Smallmouth isn't a rod designed particularly for smallmouth bass. It's "smaller" than the Largemouth. The LM is actually designed primarily for mangrove fishing for baby tarpon and snook, as well as the kind of largemouth that exist only in parts of Texas, Florida and California. The SM that I own and reviewed is perfect for smaller pike and most every largemouth situation north of the Mason Dixon line. I've not fished it, but by extension the Bluegill is appropriate for air resistant larger flies for most river and creek smallmouth fishing, light bass/panfish crossover, etc..

Its unfortunate that I hear similar comments on a lot of boards from folk who have an opinion about these rods without having any actual experience with them. I think Sage deserves a bit of thanks for having broken the mold and recognized the other half of fishing - sure beats yet another "brook trout" 7 foot 3 weight or "brown trout" 9 foot 5 weight! This is not a product category that we, as the more enthusiastic core of the fly fishing community and thus "opinion influencers", should dismiss cavalierly. This is the first indication of an industry paradigm shift and should be encouraged.

Joe C.