Is this a good deal?

[ol' blue]

I found a fly rod locally that is a Sage Graphite II 6 weight. It appears to be in like new condition. I think I can pick it up for under $150. Is it a good rod and worth the price? I don't really need it, but you just don't come across many flyrods around here. Thanks.

[Joel D. Popham]

Blue,
I found this on the Sage web site...

"From the early 80s on, Sage began its two-pronged development of its core fly rod business. From the initial success of the RP and the Graphite II generation, Don quickly moved to the next generation with Graphite III RPL fly rods. By 1985 the RPLs were the high performance standard of fly anglers everywhere. Recognizing that some anglers preferred the more moderate action of traditional fly rods, Don designed the LL Series of fly rods in 2-5-weight rods for the lightline angler."

An early 80's rod might not be worth that much unless someone is collecting them. Best Regards....

[Joel D. Popham]

Blue,

I did a little more reading on some other sites...It looks like the "Graphite II" began in the early 80's but has continued to be used through the current models. So, it will depend a lot on exactly which model of rod you are looking at. Google "Sage Graphite II" and take a look at what some of the top 5 or 6 hits say. Best Regards...

[ol' blue]

Thank you, Joel. I'll start looking.

[tailingloop]

What is the model number of the rod. It is probably right there next to where is says "Graphite II". I have a couple of Sage Discovery rods from the early 90's that are Graphite II. These are brown and have the letters "DS" after the rod designator. So my 2pc 9ft 4wt is labeled "490DS" and a 4pc 8.5ft 5wt is "586-4DS". The Discovery series was Sage's lowest cost rod at the time and they were priced in the high $100s. Some earlier models of the DS series were dual line rated (5/6, 6/7, etc). I have seen used and new examples sell for around $100 to as high as $150. They have been succeeded by the DSII , LE, and now Launch series for roughly the same price (actually less if you factor in inflation) , all of which have been improvements.

I still use my DS series rods today for fresh and saltwater along side my Sage LL, RPL+, RPLX, RPLXi, LE, FLi, VPS, and VT2 models.

[DickM]

If there is no model number on the rod besides Sage Graphite II 6 Weight, it means that it was a blank sold to be a kit rod.
Blanks bought from Sage still use the same way of showing that this is not a factory built rod and under warranty.
Hope this helps,
DickM

[tailingloop]

The Sage blanks at my local shop have the model number on the blank with the suffix "B". So it has something like "RPL 590-4 B", "VT2 890-4 B" and so on printed on the blank.

Blanks do not have serial numbers, though some of the older, low end rods, such as my DS series, do not have serial numbers either.

[ol' blue]

It really looked like it was an old rod. I would suppose it was a early edition. I think I'll pass on it. I'm building a Batson 6 weight right now, but would have jumped on it if it was a terrific deal.

[Joel D. Popham]

Three cheers for our bulletin board! It's great when we are able to help one another this way. Best Regards....