4wt 10 foot

[chrisvd]

No they didn't. It was only one of the applications they had in mind, and although good consideration was given to this, they also had others... read your own quote carefully. they say its good for nymphing..blah blah... "but thats not where it stops".. and they go onto listing some other apps where it is good. Hence, I said that the 99 was not designed exclusively with nymphing in mind.
In fact, one of it's primary design criteria, are for middle to large size American rivers, where multiple heavy flies are cast a long distance, and significant line mending needs to be performed, while being able to have good sensitivity, and protect light tippets.... A good criteria for stillwaters.
Also read carefully, where it says that the lower down load of the blank, enables open loops with multi fly setups... this is a critical criteria that is often missed by stillwater boat anglers, particularly the way that many of us fish larkensvlei....

I hear you, do you think the "bugs" include streamers and dries etc? I just assumed nymphs, cast close by or far from you and also that the multiple bug rigs is nymph rigs. but I am certainly not an expert with regards to American tactics. I am just speculating, but it still seems to be a rod that was primarily designed for nymphing, although it certainly is also great for casting multi fly rigs on stillwaters as you mentioned (and you obviously fish the rod quite a lot so you will know what it can do, I'm just not sure if they had stillwaters and dries in mind when they designed the rod).

[Gerrit Viljoen]

I bought the #5 99 and think it's fantastic for European nymphing techniques, single dries, streamers and multiple flies (dry 'n dropper) and streamers (2 flies) whilst tubing. It's medium action and at times when I'm fishing acute angles,(nymphing) it's better than a 10ft stick. Yes trust me you feel that 7cm difference at certain places in the river.

All in all great stick and why I sommer bought 2.

[Andre]

I hear you, do you think the "bugs" include streamers and dries etc? I just assumed nymphs, cast close by or far from you and also that the multiple bug rigs is nymph rigs. but I am certainly not an expert with regards to American tactics. I am just speculating, but it still seems to be a rod that was primarily designed for nymphing, although it certainly is also great for casting multi fly rigs on stillwaters as you mentioned (and you obviously fish the rod quite a lot so you will know what it can do, I'm just not sure if they had stillwaters and dries in mind when they designed the rod).

Maybe bugs do include streamers and dries, yes, I have fished like this on the Orange, with long casts accross and down, mending line etc... and the rod is unbelievable for this. There are many different types of nymphing applications, and for mono and CZN nymphing, as we know it for the Vaal and Orange, using the high stick technique, was what I thought you were getting at. While the rod does this very well, to use it exclusively for this, would be wasting the rods absolute strong points. I think that their primary objective when designing this rod, was fishing multiple flies. Weather close or far, with a focus on it's line mangment abilities.
Dries cast far, is ok, but the primary strong point of the rod, is to be able to use the low down load, to open the loop on the cast, while still achieving the distance... exactly what you need for stillwaters with multi fly long leaders.
One thing the rod is not particularly great at, is fishing a single dry, close up, or dry on dropper, or similar stuff. It can do it, but definatly not what this rod is made for. It's streangth is in the taper, and where the rod actually loads under different circumstances. It's quite a remarkable rod, and anyone who hasn't fished it, won't understand until they fish it.

[Gerrit Viljoen]

One thing the rod is not particularly great at, is fishing a dry on dropper, or similar stuff. It can do it, but definatly not what this rod is made for.

I disagree.

What's the difference between multiple bugs,nymphs and dry'n dropper? Both use more than 1 fly and both require open loops or else *tangles*.Isn't that what the rod was made for?

The rod loads in the bottom blank AND WITH PROPER LEADER DESIGN, (the 99 without proper leader setup, is just another rod, I'm watching you,we don't do single mono leaders) will chuck open loops and hence the comfort of fishing multiple flies be it nymphs, bugs or dry 'n dropper.I agree that it's not the best rod for single flies but it's still very very capable.

[Andre]

I disagree.

What's the difference between multiple bugs,nymphs and dry'n dropper? Both use more than 1 fly and both require open loops or else *tangles*.Isn't that what the rod was made for?

The rod loads in the bottom blank AND WITH PROPER LEADER DESIGN, (the 99 without proper leader setup, is just another rod, I'm watching you,we don't do single mono leaders) will chuck open loops and hence the comfort of fishing multiple flies be it nymphs, bugs or dry 'n dropper.I agree that it's not the best rod for single flies but it's still very very capable.

I'm talking about very close work where you need a tight loop. It's not great at it, It can do it ok, but not great. Anything else, it's great

[chrisvd]

Maybe bugs do include streamers and dries, yes, I have fished like this on the Orange, with long casts accross and down, mending line etc... and the rod is unbelievable for this. There are many different types of nymphing applications, and for mono and CZN nymphing, as we know it for the Vaal and Orange, using the high stick technique, was what I thought you were getting at. While the rod does this very well, to use it exclusively for this, would be wasting the rods absolute strong points. I think that their primary objective when designing this rod, was fishing multiple flies. Weather close or far, with a focus on it's line mangment abilities.
Dries cast far, is ok, but the primary strong point of the rod, is to be able to use the low down load, to open the loop on the cast, while still achieving the distance... exactly what you need for stillwaters with multi fly long leaders.
One thing the rod is not particularly great at, is fishing a single dry, close up, or dry on dropper, or similar stuff. It can do it, but definatly not what this rod is made for. It's streangth is in the taper, and where the rod actually loads under different circumstances. It's quite a remarkable rod, and anyone who hasn't fished it, won't understand until they fish it.

Thanks for the reply Andre, I was not just refering to polish/czech nymphing, but I think you got that from my previous post. Well, this rod will then stay on my bucket list, I must say I was properly impressed with the blank when I had it in hand, its got a remarkable tip section. Great to hear from you guys that actualy can give objective (kind of objective coming from you regarding SAGE)opinions on rods you actualy fish often.

[Andre]

Thanks for the reply Andre, I was not just refering to polish/czech nymphing, but I think you got that from my previous post. Well, this rod will then stay on my bucket list, I must say I was properly impressed with the blank when I had it in hand, its got a remarkable tip section. Great to hear from you guys that actualy can give objective (kind of objective coming from you regarding SAGE)opinions on rods you actualy fish often.

Yes, it has a remarkable tip, but it has a more remarkable middle taper section, and this is only eveident when you fish with it in different situations. People who try and test this rod in the parking lot, don't but it, because the perking lot test, unless you really know what to look for, won't really tell you anything. The rod doesn't cast particularly brilliantly, doesn't feel too different from any other rod, but hey.... you know what I'm saying. It's the kind of rod that you have to match to your fishing applications requirement.