This week we are taking a close look at Sage's Bass series rod, "The Smallmouth." We do a lot of warm water lake fishing around here at Stillwater Fishing, and thought we should give this one a shot.  Sage makes a "Largemouth" and a "Bluegill" rod in this bass series as well, but I was in the mood to catch me some smallies.  Luckily, I was able to get my hands on one of these rods.  And, as it turned out, also had an opportunity to fish this rod on Little Platte Lake and the Grand River, both great local spots for smallmouth bass. And, just so we're all on the same page, I fished about an two hours on Little Platte and about four hours fishing the Grand River with this rod.

So, onto the review.

First impression
The Smallmouth Bass rod comes with a case and the specially designed fly line, as the rod is only 7'11" long and needs to pitch larger bass flies. The case is nice with room to hold your attached reel to the rod. The rod is an interesting mustard color, and that sets it apart from a lot of other rods I have fished. The Sage is well built with nice guide raps and a nice deep wells grip.  It's a four piece rod and the sections fit extremely well as you put it together for a trip on the water.  The line the rod comes with is a sage green 290 grain and is a floating line. Sage states on their website that the rod's length is 7'11" so that it is compliant for bass tournament use.

On the Water
I went out on a friends row boat to explore Little Platte Lake and found that standing up and casting, the rod has tremendous power and I was able to get my fly (this Sparkle Grub) anywhere I wanted it, even into the wind. The rod is responsive, and allows for a quick change of direction in mid-cast to land the fly where I wanted it. At one point, I stood up on the bench to allow for better site fishing on the shallow flats.  The rod can get larger flies out in a hurry and at a great distance. While fishing with this rod, standing up on a boat gives you tremendous advantages casting. I caught one small smallmouth, but had a great time using this rod with little or no fatigue, on a fairly windy evening on the water.

The next night I fished the Grand River and was wet wading, and at this point my nice feelings about the Sage rod changed. I was now around waist deep in the river and casting, and found that I would consistently slap the water in front of me and behind me with the fly. Slapping is when you can't maintain the height of the fly, leader, and line during your cast and the fly hits or slaps the water in front or behind you during your casting stroke. I think this happened for two main reasons. The first is that my whole body was no longer above or way above the water line as when I was fishing from the row boat. The second reason is the rods shorter length of 7' 11". This is a big difference of 7" in length from a typical 8'6" fly rod.  I was three feet closer to the water line then when I fished Little Platte Lake. Now, I realize that the line is provided to help compensate for the bigger flies and smaller rod size, but to be honest, it just did not work for me. I should mention that I am not a finesse caster, and tend to power and punch my fly on the water due to the winds I have to generally fish against on lakes. That said, I still feel there is a substantial difference between casting a traditional longer rod or any of my other fly rods than the Sage Smallmouth rod.

The Verdict
The Sage Smallmouth rod in my opinion is great if you're fishing from a drift boat or any watercraft that allows you to stand up and cast. It's got power and can get your big flies out to the fish with little effort. But, if you wade fish or planning to wade fish a lot, you may want to do an on water demo or, if that's not possible, try this rod out in a parking lot while sitting in a chair or getting down low on your knees and see if you experience the slapping like I did before investing your money. I really looked forward to reviewing this rod, as it is geared to the warm water fly fishing market that I love to do.  But, in the end, I feel The Sage Smallmouth rod came up short.

What I liked:
Four piece design and construction
The fly rod case
Rod power and action

Middle of the road:
Warranty of rod "against defects in materials and workmanship" (typical industry standard rod warranty)

What I did not like:
Keeping the fly from slapping the water

Notable accessories:
None

Manufacture specifications.
From Sage's Website:
"After working with a small, tight-lipped group of serious bass anglers, we've developed three rods that can drop a hair frog or an air-light diver with pinpoint accuracy and hardly a ripple on the water. From a fly fishing perspective, we're talking about effortlessly pushing big, wind-resistant bugs into tight quarters. Available in three models, Bluegill (new this year), Smallmouth and Largemouth, rods measure 7'11", which slides them just under the strict bass tournament rules for rod length. Additionally, both rods are sold with custom bass taper fly lines and a travel case for protection."

Model 290 Grain BASS Rod length 7'11" Bass Taper 290gr 4 28 1/2 3 1/2. Suggested USD $395.00