[Irish rod]

Hi Guys,
I have recently purchease a sage 9140-4 9wt and I'm also new to spey casting, I fish a lot a small irish rivers where overhead casting suffices. What line would you guys recommend for the 9140-4 currently I'm using a cortland SSL W/F 10. Any suggestions would be welcome, whats the general feeling about these rods.
Thanks
Irish Rods

 

[fredaevans]

First WELCOME TO THE BOARD!!

A sweetheart of a rod; the 'brownie' 9140 4 was my first spey rod, and is (since the early 80's) one that I favor for many fishing situations (now use the green blank which is a tad + "faster"in action.

My thought would be (for the overhand casting) that you'd want a fairly short head so you've got 'grains out the tip' to load the rod. Several lines will do this but if you want to 'buy local' the airfo delta (the mint green one) might be a good choice.

But, if you've got enough room behind you to overhand cast, you've got more than enough room to use most 'regular' spey casts.
fae

 

[flytyer]

The Sage 9140-4 was my first 2-hander; although I haven't fished with it for the last 5 years. It is one of the slower 2-handers on the market; therefore, I would not use a line heavier than an 8/9 mid-belly line on it. The rod is really more an 8 wt. than a 9 wt. The 9/10 spey lines overload the rod somewhat and really slow down an already slow rod even more. In fact, a 7/8 mid- or short-belly spey line is not too light for this rod.

Since you mentioned you will use the rod mainly for overhead casting, I wouldn't use a line longer than the short-belly spey lines like the Delta or Windcutter in either 7/8 or 8/9. The rod's slowness may cause you problems with overhead casting with the longer mid-belly spey lines because it takes a lot more effort to keep the extra 10 feet aerialized.

 

[t_richerzhagen]

Overhead 9140-4

I would be inclined to use a shooting head system for this rod and overhead casting. One of the Loop or RIO's new underhand heads should work well. And I second flytyers view of this more as an 8 weight than a true 9. It works well with the TT 8/9.