Sage rod info

I've recently been looking into buying an older Sage LL rod. I noticed a lot of different identifiers on the rods I was seeing specifically LLB, GFL LL, LL II and LL III.

There was a Sage LL for sale here on FAOL sometime ago and someone questioned whether or not the rod was a real LL because the seller had listed as a Sage GFL LL. Not sure what came of that thread but in my quest to purchase an LL I emailed Sage and I thought I'd share thier reply as it applies to thier other rods too.

"Hello Richard,

The LL series of rods was made for many years and bascially the only functional change that was made was from Graphite II to Graphite III. By placing a 'B' on our blanks then we can always identify them as blanks down the road and additionally the 'GFL' was an early way of saying 'graphite fly rod' which at the time needed to be distinguished from fiberglass.

Thanks for checking in and best regards,

Team Sage"

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The LL(light line) is a very nice small stream rod IMO. Had a 389 LL (3 wgt 8'9" 2 pc.) Loved the rod but found myself always grabbing the 7 foot Avid. Preferred the shorter length so sold it to someone who would appreciate and use it. Not worth nuttin sittin in the closet! Good luck in your search.

Mike

quillg, i'll add what I know to the mix. Like Sage's reply said the B denotes the blank. In other words, if you find one marked LLB or RPLB, it's a custom built rod on the Sage blank. The GFL's were the less expensive versions of their counterparts. For instance, I have a 7wt RPL, GFL...it's the RPL blank, but it has cheaper hardware on it compared to the standard RPL. Hope that helps.