Founded in 1980 by legendary rod designer Don Green, Sage was created with one idea in mind – to build the world’s finest performance fly rods. Using world-class materials and years of experience gained while working with Fenwick and Grizzly rod companies, Don revolutionized the fly fishing world.

When Sage started business on Bainbridge Island it was first known as Winslow Rod Company, and although the name quickly changed to Sage, the location on Bainbridge Island is still the same even today. Originally it had six employees and about 1,500 square feet of manufacturing space. Today it has grown to 175 employees working in a 30,000 square foot space. The following story sheds light on Sage throughout the past 21 years:

Two important threads run through the Sage story. The first is the importance of fly rod design, the second is the importance of controlled distribution.

As for fly rod design, years of fly fishing experience had taught Don that fly rods should never run out of “power.” While there might be fishing scenarios where the full power and flex of a fly rod were not utilized by the angler, the best designs were those that always held power in reserve. Hence the name Reserve Power was given to the new style of fly rod Don developed for extra long casts or for windy conditions. The name was abbreviated to the RP. This was the first major series of fly rods that Sage released in 1982 and they quickly became the most talked about fly rods in the world.