First Cast

Well, my new rod arrived last night during supper. After the table was cleared and the dishes put away, I eagerly opened the packaging. The rod was beautiful! I quickly put the rod together and mounted a reel on it to feel the balance of the rod. Nice. Since it was dark out, I decided to wait until morning to cast the rod.
I casted the rod this afternoon briefly and I must say, WOW! I casted with a Rio WF 9 wt line and it loaded real nice. The action wasn’t quite as fast as I imagined it would be (because it’s a fast action, and not an extra-fast); once I slowed my cast down just a little bit the line casted wonderfully. It was pretty easy to shoot just about the whole line (100ft) with two false casts. I was in my front yard, and could have probably casted the whole line with ease if I would have casted into the street.
I am impressed; the rod did not cast like a $130 rod (I paid $99), but rather like a higher priced rod. The rod also looked well constructed. Thanks must go in order to Sage for passing down technology from their higher end rods.
The only thing I might question about the rod are two things. The stripping guides, looked thinner than the ones on my RedStart. It could be that higher quality guides could be thinner diameter for the same strength as the cheaper ones. The other thing was that there was a stripping guide just above the ferrule on the upper piece of the rod. My other rods had the guides up just a bit further. The only problem that could happen here is damaging the guide when connecting and disconnecting the ferrules on the rod. I am pleased with my purchase; Time will only tell how this rod holds up to the punishment of the dreaded Esox family. Not to worry, though, as the rod comes with a lifetime guarantee.