A number of months ago Sage sent us the X rod to test. And even though the X has been on a number of trips and has caught lots of trout, with this rod it was love at first cast. The X loads easily with very little line outside of the tip, but it also has enough backbone to reach a rising trout that seems just a little out of range. Because of the rod’s flex and recovery rate, it’s adaptable to a variety of angling situations, and excels both on tight casts in small streams and for bombing long casts on bigger water. The new taper delivers greater blank recovery and a crisper tip, allowing anglers to dig deeper into the rod and access more of the lower sections of the blank, shifting power closer to the angler. Decreased lateral and medial movement and vibrations in the blank also result in more accurate and efficient presentations, which refine the synergy between angler, rod, line, and fly. sageflyfish.com

Wading anglers know it’s not uncommon for water to appear waist deep when it’s really closer to chest deep. For situations like this, or after an unintended spill or an unexpected downpour, Orvis created a functional waterproof backpack that keeps your gear (and your fishing license) dry. In addition to it’s functional waterproof construction, the pack also differs from other dry bags in that its outward gray finish is textured as opposed to a plasticy-looking dry-bag type finish. True to the Orvis brand, they designed the pack with the fly fisher in mind. The pack features a gear station on the shoulder strap, two rod tube pockets, a D-ring on the back to hold a landing net, and a padded back panel with ventilation channels. Available March 2017. Orvis.com