Sage and Carron

[Fruin]

Another member was fishing my local river today and he gave me a wee go of a set up that he had on loan. The rod was the 10wt Sage 15ft European, and the line was a Carron 11? 12? wt. I only had a short trial with it and had been fishing the Jocky M on an Alltmor all day prior to this.
He had to lever the Sage/Carron combo away from me as it was an absolute pleasure to cast with - total ease and comfort fishing. It's a pity that we were only on a medium river, as I would have liked the opportunity to try to open up a bit with this outfit. It felt like it would have cast a country mile with total ease.

[windcutter]

Hi gary,it was the carron 11/12 75' head
I put on the snowbee 2d 10/11 later and the problems i had been having earlier disappeared ;D,i think the smaller head and lighter line suited me better.I think we should try and get a day on kercock with the pdaa in the spring and see what we can do.
Good to see you again and glad to see that your hand has healed,good luck next week on Kinkell
john

[Fruin]

John,

Good to see you too. I take it that you ended up with the same result as me
If we can't get a day on Kercock, we should get a day elsewhere for an early spring practice. Might even get a fish ;D

[windcutter]

No fish for me either

[windcutter]

No fish for me either.I wonder if any of the more experienced sage fans have a view as to what the best line for this rod would be?

[castslikeaghille]

fruin said:

Another member was fishing my local river today and he gave me a wee go of a set up that he had on loan. The rod was the 10wt Sage 15ft European, and the line was a Carron 11? 12? wt. I only had a short trial with it and had been fishing the Jocky M on an Alltmor all day prior to this.
He had to lever the Sage/Carron combo away from me as it was an absolute pleasure to cast with - total ease and comfort fishing. It's a pity that we were only on a medium river, as I would have liked the opportunity to try to open up a bit with this outfit. It felt like it would have cast a country mile with total ease.

I used to fish the Caron Jetstream 10/11 75' head on the 16' Euro, and you are right, you can cast that combo a country mile. When I used it on the 15' Euro I couldn't lift the line with the head out of the top ring as I could with the 16' - however it still went a long way and turns over beautifully. I now use the 75' 10/11 on a 15' TCR and in terms of lift capability it is somewhere just short of the 16' Euro. I also use the 65' 9/10 head on the 12' 9 #9 TCR and it is a beautiful line to fish with.

In a style of Viz - a Top Tip. I obtained a length of the black tubing you get with the Jocky M (from the man himself) and slid it up the running line to the back of the head - it is a much, much better way of knowing where your line is loading than any marker pen.

Regards

CLaG

[Fruin]

Clag,

One of the things that I did notice with the combo was that it was so easy to lift the head, regardless of how much of it was outside the head. I really liked this outfit because (with my very short trial) it could lift the 75ft head and place the anchor easily with the whole head outside the tip ring. The secret seemed to be in keeping the whole casting stroke slow and smooth.

I have often thought that a head was too heavy for a rod because I could not lift it properly. However, I think the opposite is often true; a lighter head can be harder to lift because you are having to throw it into the back cast / d loop, rather than allowing the stored power in the rod do a lot of the work.

Maybe the fact that the rod was a 10 rating and the line an 11 /12 is what made the casting so leisurely.

[tynesider]

I have used a sage 15.1 and the carron 75 floater for two seasons and found it an excellent set up for medium to large rivers.

Last year the core started to separate from the plastic coating on the last two or three meters, I complained to Carron and they said they would replace the line no problem and even asked me to choose a different line if I wanted to try something else free of charge not even postage (credit to carron).

I decided to try the 85 footer, it worked a treat, you could load the rod anywhere from 60 to 75 feet of head out but struggled to lift from there.

I bought a 15 foot TCR this year and that set up really does fly, the extra power of the rod brings the best out of the line and couldn't ask for more.

The Jock Monteith and TCR are also a fine partnership.

[speycaster]

i have the 14ft er sage european and use the snowbee 2d floater and the same line with 7ft choped of for my 10 - 15 ft sink tips and its a joy to use billy p