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Line Recomendations Of Lines For Sage SLT 9FT6 #6 Weight

7K views 41 replies 15 participants last post by  pati 
#1 ·
Hi Guys
I have just bought the rod described in the title.
Does anybody have any recomendations for a floating/intermediate and sinking line for this rod for fishing off the bank on stillwaters?
Any advice would be much appreciated
Cheers
Garry
 
#3 ·
In my experience, the line rating of Sage rods is usually accurate.
Until the TCR!!
I agree though, nice rods and at the risk of making this my answer to every 'what line...?' question - Barrio GT90! They only do a floater or inter and as I rarely fish them couldn't really comment on a suitable sinker.
 
#5 ·
Hi Garry,

Floater - Maxcatch Gold, hugely popular on here for a reason - ridiculously good for the money. actually it would still be ridiculously good if it cost five times as much.

Intermediate -trust me on this, buy one of these:


Sinker - has to be Airflo again. There are very few absolutes in fly fishing but Airflo make the best sinking lines is one of them. Get the latest Sixth Sense which has two hang markers, as good as sinkers get. Simple as that.

Skaj
 
#6 ·
Thanks for all the replys guys
Ive read some good things about the Maxcatch lines, i also own a Barrio smallstream in a #3 which i am very happy with.
Whould there be any advantage of overloading the rod with a #7 weight or would it be better to stick to a #6?
Cheers
 
#8 ·
Hi Garry, as said the SLT is pretty true to its weight, I used a Maxcatch floater on mine and it was great.
cant comment on inters or sinkers as I very rarely use them.
enjoy the rod.
S.
 
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#18 ·
I have a SLT in 9' 5wt and it casts well with Wulff TT, Wychwood Charles Jardine and Barrio Small Stream.
 
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#23 ·
Barrio slx and airflo 40+ are popular for a reason.
The extra weight makes them easy to cast further, weight also benificial when it's windy or your using bigger sized flies you can swap between spey and overhead casts.
I really don't see the need to stick rigidly to rod/line weights.

Al
 
#30 ·
Barrio slx and airflo 40+ are popular for a reason.
The extra weight makes them easy to cast further, weight also benificial when it's windy or your using bigger sized flies you can swap between spey and overhead casts.
I really don't see the need to stick rigidly to rod/line weights.

Al
The main problem with the 40+ is that they have a tendency to land like a sack of spuds! Useless for spooky fish!
 
#24 ·
The AFFTA ratings have become somewhat fluid over the years. One of the first examples of this was when Sage released the TCR and then Rio launched the Rio Grand to go with it. Essentially a line-weight heavier than stated for a rod that was also considerably faster than other rods for that line rating. Good distance caters can get the TCR to work with a matched rated line, but mere mortals struggled with the 'magic distance casting stick' unless it was 'overlined' or in this case used with a line more suitable to its actual action.
 
#25 ·
When I started along the GAIA qualification path I bought myself a 9ft, 5wt, TCR and yes, with some practice you can get the backing knot rattling up through the rod rings. However, for much of the GAIA syllabus, presentation, slack line casts etc, it's not a 'good tool' and as a fishing rod with a 5wt line it's 'orrible! It's a rod I rarely use these days except I sometimes use it with 35ft, 7wt shooting heads for a bit of bank fishing. I caught my PB brown with that combination (14lb) from Lechlade.
 
#27 ·
I used a 6wt Z-Axis for my GAIC... still got it and use it regularly. I also have a GLoomis GLX (the original 2-piece) which was described by Paul Arden as 'one of the best rods ever made'. It's a tad softer than the equivalent TCR but still too damn fast for everything but distance casting with a matched line. I wheel it out occasionally when a client asks about the benefits of fast rods! After a few cast most just look at their feet and say 'Hmmmm....'.
 
#26 ·
Trouble is there is no recognised methodology or system for rod weights... it’s basically- make a rod, then the designer calls the line weight... the sage tcr in a 5w is more like a 6.5 if compared to the ccs classification... where as another rod builder, say a classic winston design, may produce a 5w rod that actually matches the ccs 5w range.
5w lines have a very specific range (admittedly fly line manufactures choose to ignore it, but at least you can check), whereas a rod is whatever the maker marked it up as.
 
#40 ·
By a strange quirk of fate, I ended up buying this exact rod off eBay a few weeks ago. I started off using it for sea trout fishing on the Clwyd at night, and it worked well with a 7wt Cortland ghost tip.....for casts usually around 10 yards.
I have now used it for dry fly fishing on Brenig, using a 6wt Maxcatch Avid line, first time I've tried one of these lines. The line is perfect for longish casts with the rod, and I have to say I'm impressed with the line.....I use a Rio Gold on a 5wt rod and the cheap line seems very similar.
Regarding the rod.....a delight to cast and it bends into fish nicely.
 
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