Sage SPEY R8 Review & Photos - The Best New Spey Rods for 2024

January 09, 2024

Published on January 09, 2024Updated on January 15, 2024

New Sage SPEY R8 Rod Review & Photos - The Best New Spey Rods for 2024

There's a new top dog in two-handed rods, the brand new Sage SPEY R8 rods. This completes Sage's transition to their newest rod technology which debuted with the R8 Core series and then the SALT R8 (Which I am very, very familiar with - have a look at that review). Believe me when I say the new tech is well worth it, both in terms of lightness and overall better performance. If you want to excel at Spey techniques, this new rod is going to work perfectly and look great doing it.

What has continually impressed me so much with the regular R8 series and saltwater series is the versatility and user-friendly nature of these new rods. Sage excels at making rods that both the beginner/intermediate and the much more advanced caster can take advantage of and enjoy, and that is no easy task.

I am actually a little upset that this new series looks even better than the other R8 rods I already own (have a look at the fantastic photos that Sage commissioned for this new product launch). The warm color palette and golden brown blank (Sage calls it "Ale" which is appropriate) are just perfect. Such a nice set of rods.

Here's the complete list of the new SPEY R8 models you can check out in our shop:

5wt 12'6" (5126-4)

6wt 13'0" (6130-4)

7wt 11'6" Switch (7116-4)

7wt 12'6" (7126-4)

7wt 13'0" (7130-4)

7wt 13'6" (7136-4)

8wt 11'6" Switch (8116-4)

9wt 14'0" (9140-6) *6-piece for Travel

10wt 15'0" (10150-4)

Today Sage is also releasing an entirely redesigned Spey reel series to pair with these new rods. There are also brand new shooting heads which I think will be very appealing to many spey anglers. I will cover that more later but if you are curious you can check them out on the same main page as all the Spey R8 rods.

I am going to mainly let these photos speak for themselves, since you can't really tell anything else just from reading a review online. I can tell you how well it casts and give you advice if you want to buy it, but as the old joke goes, don't ask your barber if you need a haircut. That being said, if you are reading this then yes, you need this rod, and Sage has ensured that this lineup offers something for every potential spey scenario.

Sage really focused on tailoring each rod in the series to a specific set of locations and fish species, as well as seasonal differences.

I will give a quick overview of the new lineup below and some of my thoughts on each model, as well as some nice potential line pairings and suggestions.

Sage has done such a stellar job with the new photos of these rods that I wanted to share them all here in the layout they provided to dealers. This is a perfect way to display each model in our opinion. The lineup starts with two new switch rods, two lightweight spey rods, and up from there to the most versatile all-around useful spey rods and then the heavy duty, very powerful rods in the lineup.

Ok, if you got to have a nice look at all these great photos, you are probably pretty excited about these rods just like I was when Sage first showed me a few months ago. I will be doing more testing and adding lots of line suggestions to this review in the next few weeks, as soon as I have more time to type it all out.

If you have questions or need any help picking one out, along with finding the right line for your intended purposes, we are always happy to help so give us a call or shoot us an email any time.

941-483-6847 or info@saltflypro.com\

(I will be working on line suggestions and more details for each model as soon as possible)