I had the extremely fortunate pleasure of taking a special rod with me to Cuba this summer. Sage have yet again shocked me with an improvement on what I have for the last 5 to 6 years, considered the perfect fishing rod and casting tool, the TCR.

A 9ft number 8 prototype Sage TCX arrived in the post, just in time for my week of flatsfishing at Cayo Largo and I certainly put it through it’s paces on some large bonefish. This rod range is soon to replace the TCR.

Naturally, I could not help but compare to it’s predecessor and the more I used it the more I did not want to go back to the rod I’ve loved for so long. As soon as I felt the line start to load this rod I realised that as expected, it was fast; but it was fast and yet still felt delicate when making short and gentle casts to tailing fish. I also made full flyline casts with a Cortland 555 Tropic plus line and no matter how much I aerialized or attempted to shoot, the loop shape remained strong and tight, leaving me so often wishing for a much longer flyline.

The overall feel is crisp in the tip and strong in the butt, and with a slim blank that feels extremely light in the hand. Sage rods have long been known for how well balanced they feel when casting and fishing. This new rod certainly follows in that path. Whatever line length I used, I felt in control and in touch with the blank, hence helping resist the urge to overpower, as I’d expect with other fast action rods.

Initially, I had a feeling Sage might be going too fast here and getting close to another fast action top end rod, but after casting them alongside, I immediately realised that it far surpassed the other, offering a certain sweet feel that is very hard to describe. I can’t wait to see the production models on our racks in the store and of course, to use them next year in Cuba.

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