The morning’s hunt in the Ozark National Forest had ended with four fat gray squirrels riding home in my truck. As I cleaned the squirrels, readying them for a simmering pot of potatoes, carrots, onion, celery and a blend of seasonings, the white-tipped fur on each tail caught my eye. It seemed wasteful to throw them away.

When the Sage SALT HD was announced last year, it rode an enormous hype wave to the forefront of virtually any discussion about saltwater fly rods. It won"Best in Show" at the International Fly Tackle Dealer show in Orlando. And the proclamations came: it's a Scott Meridian killer, or a G. Loomis NRX killer, it's Sage's best saltwater fly rod ever and so on. Then came the naysayers, it's too heavy, the tip is too stiff, it's all marketing, ad infinitum.