The Sage Sonic Spey & Switch Rods are the two-handed rods that put Sage's Konnetic Technology in both of your hands without asking for the money the R8 Spey does. Swinging flies is a volume game: you make the same sweep, set the same anchor and fish out the same arc a few hundred times before anything eats, so the weight and the diameter of the blank you are holding decide how good your last cast of the run is. Konnetic Technology positions the carbon fiber to build a lighter, decidedly thinner blank, which cuts casting fatigue over a long day and gives the wind less to push against. It also buys torsional stability, so the shaft stops twisting and recovers quickly through the stroke instead of wobbling and bleeding off line speed. The result is a fast action rod with the power to lift a heavy tip off the water and the touch to set a clean touch-and-go anchor, which is why the Sonic reads as a multi-discipline tool rather than a specialist.We stock all eight models Sage builds, from a 5wt trout spey up to a 9wt 14ft Atlantic salmon rod, so the real decision here is which one. Sage designed each length for its own job. The 11ft 6in Switch rods are the short, handy end of the family: they fit smaller water with overhanging branches or steep grassy banks, they are manageable from a boat, and both of them double as overhead beach rods. The 12ft 6in 5wt and 6wt are the light end, built to skate a dry and present a small wet fly delicately to summer steelhead and big trout. The 13ft 6in 7wt and 8wt are the mainstream swing rods, with the length to lift more line, mend farther and hold a controlled swing across a wide run. The two six-piece models exist for travel, and cost more because of the extra ferrules, not because they are different rods.BlankThe blank is built with Konnetic Technology, Sage's carbon fiber positioning process, and the two things it buys on a two-hander are a thinner profile and torsional stability. The thin profile is the part you feel first: less material in the wall means less rod to accelerate through a sweep you will repeat all day, and less surface for a downstream wind to grab on a 13ft 6in shaft. The torsional stability is the part you feel on the delivery. A blank that resists twisting recovers fast and tracks straight, which keeps the load carrying forward through the stroke instead of scattering sideways, and that is where the line speed on a long cast comes from. The action is fast, and Sage tuned it deliberately wide rather than narrow: the Sonic is built to cover a broad range of grains within its rod weight, from Skagit heads down to Scandi heads and from floating tips out to T-20. In practice that means one Sonic can be your winter rod and your summer rod. The cosmetics are Juniper blank with Charcoal primary thread wraps and Gunmetal trim. Every model is handcrafted at Sage's shop on Bainbridge Island, Washington.GuidesStripping Guides - Fuji ceramic stripping guides handle the first and hardest contact point. That matters more on a two-hander than on a single-hand rod, because every spey cast fires a long length of running line through the stripping guides under full load. A ceramic insert is harder and slicker than a bare chromed frame, so more of the energy you built in the D-loop actually reaches the far bank, and the ring will not groove and start shredding line coating after a season of glacial silt and beach sand.Snake Guides - Hard chromed snake guides and a hard chromed tip-top run the rest of the blank. Hard chrome is the right answer for rods that live in cold rain, snowmelt and tidewater, since it resists the corrosion that pits softer wire, and it adds almost nothing out toward the tip where weight costs the most on a 14ft rod. It also takes the beating of loop-to-loop connections and sink tips clattering through on the retrieve.Reel SeatThe reel seat is a corrosion resistant down-locking anodized aluminum unit in Matte Slate. Down-locking is the correct configuration on a two-hander: it seats the reel toward the butt, behind your lower hand, where the mass of a large spey reel helps balance a long blank instead of hanging under your grip. Anodized aluminum is the low-maintenance choice, with no wood insert to swell or check after months of wet hands and rain, and the anodizing plus the matte finish keeps salt spray off the threads and reflection off the water. Ahead of the seat is a Super Plus grade full-wells cork handle with a cork and EVA fighting butt. Super Plus is Sage's top cork grade, which is worth paying attention to on a rod your upper hand grips for a full day, since filled and pitted cork is what starts blistering hands by the afternoon. The EVA in the fighting butt is there because that is the end of the rod that gets set down on gravel and jammed into a wading belt.Rod TubeEvery Sonic ships in a matte black powder coated aluminum rod tube with a Sage medallion, and a black rod bag with a Titanium logo and a green model tag. Powder coat over aluminum is a functional choice rather than a cosmetic one: it takes the scuffs of travel and boat storage without the wear you get on bare anodizing. The model tag on the bag is the small detail that earns its keep, because sorting four or six long sections of two different two-handers out of one truck bed in the dark is otherwise a guessing game. On the six-piece travel models the tube is short enough to go inside a normal checked bag.WarrantyThe Sonic carries Sage's original owner warranty against defects in materials and workmanship, administered by Far Bank. It covers the original owner of a rod bought from an authorized dealer, so keep your receipt and register the rod. It does not cover misuse, neglect, normal wear, fire, theft, missing or lost rod sections, intentional breakage, or modification and customization. Breakage outside that coverage, which is most of what actually kills spey rods, is still handled: Far Bank processes it as a paid repair, and the Sonic sits in the current lineup, so the fee is $50 per rod. Older rods cost more to service, at $95 for recent models and $195 for legacy models, and a missing section is $150 on current and recent models. You pay to ship the rod in and Far Bank covers return shipping back to you.More Info Rod Action: Fast Best For: Swinging wet flies, soft hackles, traditionals and intruders on medium to large rivers; summer and winter steelhead, salmon and big trout, plus overhead beach fishing on the switch models Grip Style: Two-handed cork spey or switch grip, Super Plus grade full-wells with a cork and EVA fighting butt Ability Level: Intermediate to Advanced Line Weight Range: 5wt through 9wt Switch Models: 7wt 11ft 6in 4 piece (Sage 7116-4) and 8wt 11ft 6in 4 piece (8116-4) Spey Models: 5wt 12ft 6in 4 piece (5126-4), 6wt 12ft 6in 4 piece (6126-4), 7wt 13ft 6in 4 piece (7136-4), 8wt 13ft 6in 4 piece (8136-4) Travel Models: 7wt 13ft 6in 6 piece (7136-6) and 9wt 14ft 6 piece (9140-6) Published Grain Windows: 5wt 12ft 6in, Skagit 350-400gr and Scandi 300-350gr; 6wt 12ft 6in, Skagit 400-450gr and Scandi 350-400gr Line Compatibility: Skagit through Scandi heads, floating through T-20 tips Blank: Konnetic Technology, Juniper with Charcoal primary and Gunmetal trim wraps Made In: Bainbridge Island, Washington Recommended LinesTwo-handed rods are lined by grain weight, not by the number printed on the blank, so buy to the head weight. Sage publishes a specific window for the two light models, Skagit 350-400gr and Scandi 300-350gr on the 5wt 12ft 6in and Skagit 400-450gr and Scandi 350-400gr on the 6wt, and describes the rest of the family as covering a wide grain range within each rod weight rather than committing to a number, so call us before you buy a head for a 7wt, 8wt or 9wt Sonic. Rio is Sage's sister brand under Far Bank and is the natural pairing. For sink tips and big winter flies, the Rio Elite Skagit MAX Launch Shooting Head is the broadest single answer: its rear-loaded taper loads a fast blank deep and turns a T-tip over cleanly, and it runs 400gr through 750gr, which reaches from the 6wt window up past anything the 9wt 14ft will want. If you are fishing the 5wt, or you want a shorter and more aggressive head for the 11ft 6in switch rods in tight quarters, the Rio Elite Skagit MAX Power Shooting Head starts at 350gr and runs to 650gr, so it covers the 5wt's 350-400gr window and loads fast at short range where there is no room for a long sweep. For floating line work, skated dries and small wets once the water warms, the Rio Elite Scandi Body Shooting Head is the other half of the system, with 300gr and 325gr sizes inside the 5wt Scandi window, 350gr through 400gr for the 6wt, and grains to 610gr for the larger rods. All three are shooting heads rather than integrated lines, so plan on a running line as well.
