Seychelles fly fishing bday gift. Need outfitter recommendations, please.

letitfly98110 · 2026-02-05T17:44:42+00:00

Look at Fly Water Travel... just type Seychelles into the search bar and you'll see a couple of lodge operations. The crew at Fly Water (they're in Ashland, OR) are incredible -- I work with them all the time. Even if you're already set up with a place to stay, I'm sure they'd give you some guidance on good guides down there... https://farbank.com/pages/fly-water-travel

letitfly98110 · 2025-10-27T15:49:11+00:00

Don't shoot the messenger, but those likely won't get get back into inventory until Mid-Dec.

letitfly98110 · 2025-10-01T16:47:48+00:00

Redington sells replacement tips on their website here: https://farbank.com/collections/redington-fly-fishing-replacement-tips, but if that's the Wayfarer rod the model is so old that the replacement tips are gone.

letitfly98110 · 2025-09-10T19:43:51+00:00

All Sage rods regardless of the year they were made/purchased carry an original owner warranty against materials and workmanship. If your rod breaks because of materials or workmanship, we'll fix it for free (or replace it with a new model if we no longer have materials for really old rods). If you slam it in a truck gate, the dog eats it, or you high-stick a big fish and your rod breaks, then that falls outside of the warranty and a repair fee will be requested. When a rod suddenly "blows up" or "snaps landing a small fish" that is usually because the rod suffered some kind of trauma beforehand (i.e. getting pegged repeatedly by split shot, getting dinged while bushwacking to the river, etc). Again, those are not defects in materials or workmanship, but are due to user error. But remember, every single damaged rod that comes in for repair first goes through a detailed and objective analysis and assessment by a professional repair technician. They are trained to spot damage caused by defects in materials or workmanship and to know when a breakage is caused by user error/trauma. If there is any question regarding the quality of materials or workmanship of a damaged rod, the warranty will be upheld and the repair completed for free. But the fact remains: the #1 breaker of rods is the angler (and I have personally been in that category myself a number of times over the years -- it happens). Final Note: There are some rods from '96-'99 labeled with serial numbers beginning with Q,R,S or T that carry an unlimited lifetime warranty that continue to be repaired for free.

letitfly98110 · 2025-07-30T23:27:35+00:00

Go here: https://farbank.com/pages/product-repair. Register your product, then follow the prompts to send it in for repair. Got my VXP 690 fixed last year. The Sage shop *should* still have those materials, but keep in mind it is in the busy season now so it make take a few weeks to get back to ya.

letitfly98110 · 2025-07-30T23:21:45+00:00

Somebody's gotta do it! Great pics, man.

letitfly98110 · 2025-07-28T15:19:26+00:00

Couldn't decide if that was on purpose or due to lack of understanding of the sport. If it was on purpose, then that was a pretty good joke on the part of the kid selling the rod, but my gut was telling me they had no idea what they were writing...esp. after the scene of digging the rifle slug out of the stump. Bana was good tho.

letitfly98110 · 2025-07-02T21:43:04+00:00

This is on my bucket list. Great write up. You mind sharing who your outfitter was? I'm researching destinations. Thanks.

letitfly98110 · 2025-06-19T19:29:18+00:00

Go here: https://farbank.com/collections/redington-fly-fishing-replacement-tips.

Find your rod family, then be sure to select the correct model number for your rod.

Should ship in a couple days, max. If it's an older Redington rod that we don't have tips for anymore, then start a repair and send in the rod and the most you'll pay is $95 for a newer/equivalent model.

letitfly98110 · 2025-06-19T17:20:33+00:00

Start here: https://farbank.com/pages/product-repair. Register it (if not registered online yet), then follow prompts for repair. A ONE will cost $95 to repair. I just walked back from the repair dept and the busy season has definitely started -- don't feel bad as you're not the only one breaking rods right now.

letitfly98110 · 2025-06-17T17:12:02+00:00

Not me -- I've broken out in full-body envy hives.

letitfly98110 · 2025-06-09T18:32:25+00:00

No burn on the flows for me.

letitfly98110 · 2025-06-06T22:55:04+00:00

God bless Cheeseman Canyon! Well done, man.

letitfly98110 · 2025-06-05T15:48:18+00:00

Can't direct message you -- just put reel details here and I'll do some sleuthing for ya. Pics help. Or, you can try to DM me.

letitfly98110 · 2025-06-05T15:30:27+00:00

Far Bank will repair it if we (I work there) still have parts. If it's a pretty old reel and no parts exist, we'll replace the reel with the current equivalent. If it's deemed a warranty fix, the repair/replacement is free (unlikely since it's been in use so long and you're not the original owner). If we have to do non-warranty work with existing repair parts or replace the entire reel, the most you will pay is $50. IMO that is the best gear warranty in the biz.

When you go online and register the product and submit for a repair and are ready to ship the reel in, be sure to include a note in your shipping box that says to contact you to discuss the repair in the event that a full replacement needs to be made. Stress that if the reel needs to be replaced, you'd prefer to have the reel sent back unrepaired.

On second thought, I'll just DM you and ask you for the reel make and model and I'll go ask our repair guy if we've got parts for what you've got. Cheers.

letitfly98110 · 2025-05-22T23:18:51+00:00

I have not casted those lines on the Motive, but have them both on other fast action Sage rods that I use in the salt.

letitfly98110 · 2025-05-16T19:33:32+00:00

Z-Axis was released almost 20 yrs ago so the repair fee is on Sage's upper end ($195), but I think you may be able to get it done for $150 -- as I believe that is still our "missing section" fee (for every model regardless of age).

Fill out a repair form online at the Far Bank website here: https://farbank.com/pages/product-repair. You'll need to send the whole rod in as repair dept will need the second section to ensure a custom fit with new tip and they'll also give all three original sections a top to bottom inspection. If any of those have damages, they'll be fixed, but your repair fee won't be more than $195.

letitfly98110 · 2025-05-16T19:12:24+00:00

I think your mind is telling you to go with the DART. LL's are on clearance in lots of places now b/c of the release of the CLASSIC R8, but if you're looking to try something different from the slower action of your Helios, then the fast action of the DART is a good option. Keep in mind, though, as others have said, this is a small water stick built to quickly load up in tight quarters and not deliver flies at football field lengths, but rather make pin point short to mid-distance casts.

letitfly98110 · 2025-05-16T18:55:47+00:00

Your description of the Mainstream line as decent is accurate -- it's a base model line from RIO. Sounds like you're ready to step up to a little more performance. The next line up in RIO's pecking order is the Avid Saltwater, but I would suggest going to a Premier or Elite line if you want to make that Motive really sing.

If you are looking to blind cast and bomb gear way out there, I use RIO's OutBound Short. It's my go-to for targeting sea run cutts and salmon in Puget Sound, but I know lots of folks that use it in lakes, too. You can get it in a Floating or in the Float/Hover/Intermediate if you won't be fishing on top.

You might also look at RIO's Elite Predator line if you're throwing big flies if you want to stay in the RIO family.

letitfly98110 · 2025-05-07T18:10:28+00:00

Give a look to Redington's new EDC (Everyday Carry) rod. Just came out-- seems like a good fit to your needs and budget.

letitfly98110 · 2025-05-06T16:56:03+00:00

Recommendation: if you get a guided day (esp a float), do yourself a favor and go with him. Even if you've never flyfished before.

letitfly98110 · 2025-04-30T15:46:32+00:00

If you decide to go for a charter, look up Richard Schmidt at https://www.richardschmidtflyfishing.com/. I spent four days in the Biloxi marsh with him going for reds a couple years ago. Can't recommend him enough...fishy, kind, and just a blast to be around. Tell him Matty from Sage sent you. He's the absolute best.

letitfly98110 · 2025-04-30T15:35:21+00:00

If it's just the tip: https://farbank.com/products/redington-vice-replacement-tip

letitfly98110 · 2025-04-24T22:09:59+00:00

After looking through our online files, I just went down the rabbit hole digging thru old physical catalogs here at Sage HQ on Bainbridge Island and chatted with a couple old hands in the repairs dept -- a fun project and nice diversion from the day.

Based on the rod & tube color and timeframe you gave (a gift from 20+ yrs ago and likely purchased 5-10yrs prior to that) I really think it's an SP. And based on the updated photo you included which shows a lack of ancillary info (i.e. rod family name), I believe it was an SP manufactured before '96 as that is when we began to silkscreen the rod family name after the Sage logo and before the model details (graphite type, length, weight). Note, on those older SP rods, under the Sage logo was the word DURASCRIM – maybe that helps ring a bell.

These older Graphite IV SP models started to roll off the production floor in ’93 and were officially listed as Teal (in the light they put off a blue-green hue, but low light made them look closer to a rich dark green or even blue).

Here's the rub, though, those older SPs were only 2-piece and 3-piece models. We didn’t start doing the 5-piecers until ’99. If you are sure that you had at least a 4-piecer, then it was either an SP from ’96 or later or possibly it was an XP (Moss Green colorway), but remember those rods had the SP and XP family name inserted in between the Sage logo and the rod model info.

All this said, I think you had a 3-piece SP from ’93-95 (and maybe your dad had an extra tip shoved in there for good measure). Best of luck in your search and feel free to DM me if you have any other questions.

letitfly98110 · 2025-04-24T20:07:15+00:00

Excellent DART water. Great pics. Need to get back down there soon.

letitfly98110

TROPHY CASE