My Sage Circa Rod

[sagefisher]

My Sage Circa

When the first mention of the new Sage Circa rod wasposted on FAOL, I watched the video and just knew that I had to have that rod.I like the slow action of a bamboo rod for pocket water fishing so I figured the new Circa would be a great rod for dry fly fishing on the rivers of WA and MT.

I called Steve Worley of the Worley Bugger Fly Co.in Ellensburg, WA and ordered the rod, an 8'9", 5wt. Meanwhile I sent an email to Sage asking them what they felt the best fly line would be for their 5 wt Circa. They suggested the Rio Gold 5-WF-F so I ordered that as well. Steve Worley sent me an email a couple of weeks ago saying the rod was in. I arranged to drive over to E'Burg to pick it up and go out on the river for the day with Steve.

Last Tuesday I arrived at the fly shop and picked up my rod. I had already picked up my fly line on one of my trips to Montana so I had my reel loaded with the fly line. Steve and I took off and hit the river. I really wanted to try out that new rod. I brought along my 6 wt ZXL and had it rigged as well just in case the wind got to blowing too hard. We never used that rod.

We arrived at the river. The air was filled with smoke from all the forest fires burning in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. This caused the otherwise cloudless day to have a thick haze to the air, which really defused the sun. We hit the water and on my first cast I knew that Sage had produced a fantastic rod. It was so light. As I made my cast the line shot out straight and true and set the fly down so softly. I could watch the rod as it was bending all the way down to the handle when the rod was loaded. Pure perfection. It actually took me about 5 casts before I caught my first fish.That first fish was an excellent test of the Circa rod. We were anchored in the middle of the river. I was casting onto a fast moving chute of water and hooked up with a very fat and healthy 16 inch Rainbow. The rod handled the fish with no problem. At times it was bent almost double when I was bringing the fish to the boat, seems the fish took exception to being hooked and he did not want to come, diving down to the bottom instead and making me work on getting him back to the surface. You could feel every movement of the fish with that rod.

We got my fish to the boat and I handed my rod to Steve and told him to catch a fish. I really wanted Steve to be able to enjoy the rod as much as I did. He took the rod and after a few casts caught his first fish. We traded off and on all day, catching I have no idea how many fish. It was a great fishing day on the Yakima River and we caught a lot of fish. We did catch three of the larger trout, all in swift water. Even the smaller trout were a kick to catch. I bought the 5 wt rod because I fish the rivers of Montana a lot and I knew I needed a rod that would handle some wind and larger flies. The 5 wt is the heaviest Circa rod that Sage makes. I wouldn't mind seeing it produced in a 6 wt. I bet the lighter and shorter 2 & 3& 4 wt rods would be a real kick on small pocket waters and streams.

The rod casts with great accuracy, or should I say it allowed us to cast with the accuracy. We could place the fly anywhere we wanted to. Alongside logs, under overhanging brush, quick casts into pockets of water between drooping branches, anywhere we wanted the fly to go. Yep, absolute perfection. The Circa is a great slow action rod. I just love mine.

Larry ---sagefisher---