tis marketing, and a real stretch. Years back when glass was the material of choice you'd pick through a number of blanks before you found a straight one..the tips would curve off on many of them.(making your own rod) With graphite, most are straight, and the occasional on with an off angled tip is set to the side. Sage has undoubtedly included some new high tech features that aids to accurate casting, but I would guess they are also telling you the rod is a medium action, or a soft action rod as well. For short, accurate casting, the rod has to flex using an easy deployed stroke, no high speed, hauling, false casting to get the rod to flex. When Deeter mentioned the centennial glass rod that was being re-introduced, I thought of this very thing...short distance, accurate casting..and this is where that short, light, easy to load glass rod would really excel..set the hook, glass rod bends cushioning a lt. tippet..not much better, and a far less expensive price.

The biggest factor in accuracy, and good graphite rod makers have made rods with very little lateral movement for sometime now is the ability of the angler to cast accurately, and form tight loops, something that has been poo-pood by a notable lately. I can sit anchored in my boat with a number of big sized trout working small bugs, like BWO's along a seam not 15 ft. away, and the client doesn't know where his fly landed, and has little chance of hooking up. Why? Where he aimed the cast, he threw an open loop, and the leader, end of the fly line was blown way off course. They now can't see the fly because they don't know where it is. Throw a tight loop, and even though you can't see your small fly, you know basically where it landed, and any surface disturbance in that area you lift the rod..fish on. And a roll cast won't get the job done. One false cast, and lay it in there.

Sounds like a marketing thing to me. I'm sure the rods have a different color and some different materials, but any sage better be accurate for the price you pay for it.

Rob..One of those casting principles that we included in our flyfishing manual that we drew up many years ago now, and I probably got it from the FFF guys, was.."the line goes where the rod tip goes, and the rod tip goes where your hand, and arm direct it to go." And that is the essence. Have a rod that will flex in the short distance range, and a straight tip that isn't angled off creating inaccurate casts, and you are on your way to accurate casting when you've developed good casting skills.

Rob, I don't think a more expensive rod can. And what I am saying is that some blanks don't come out straight, the tips are curved, and need to be discarded. There are far less crooked blanks made of graphite than there use to be made of glass. The tip is the key. When you make the casting stroke you move the tip in a straight line plane, and the narrow angled wrist flex that occurs at the end of the stroke creates the size of the loop. There is also a technical factor involved in todays new rods where flex is a separate aspect from rod action (fast, med. fast, med. and slow) via the use of different graphite materials used in one blank they are able to create a flexy rod that is also a fast action rod. In the past, I could pick up a rod and flex it, and know what action it was, but not today. And it is a lot about the tip section. A very thin tip has less wt/mass, and can recover faster than a slightly bigger diameter tip. You need to commit much of casting to motor memory, and that involves lots of casting. The timing of the cast..the backcast is different according to how much line you have out. Casters that learn to haul create a rhythm of casting, and then after they make the power stop at the end of the cast, they don't just stop, and have to guess when a fair amount of line is cast, and determine when it will straighten out in the back. They drift their hand, and forearm back as the line goes back after they make the stop, and create the loop. This greatly improves the timing necessary as to when to go forward, and provides more length to the forecast allowing it to be smoother. Mu manual was only used in our clases, designed for our 3 day classes, and we updated it every so often. i changed the cover on it numerous times as I taught classes for different retail outlets, and Park and Rec Depts. I like to cast different rods with different flexes, and actions from time to time when I'm on the water. Perks my interest in using the right stroke, and timing with a particular rod. And of the more inexpensive rods now on the market. Many use to have too much glass in them, and were way too flexy/sloppy. Today, you can choose a good casting, inexpensive rod that works well in most situations, and you are right, a medium action that a caster can feel load up is a good choice to learn, and fish with. I prefer them to be slightly faster, a med. fast action, but either one.

You can cast through a whole range of degrees from side arm to across your body, and the principles apply, but the most accurate cast is straight up over your casting eye like shooting a gun. They have those disciplines where you cast into the circles located at different distances, and the cast of choice is straight up over your casting eye. I tend to cast 3/4 when given a choice. My elbow flares out, not kept in..just like I would throw a ball.

Here is another aspect of these expensive rods you might think about. You just mortgaged the farm, and put down $740 big ones, and several years later they discontinue the rod, and now they advertise you can pick one up at blowout prices!!!! How good does that make you feel? doesn't say much for your investment.

Buckhunter..Got me on that one.