I received a gift last Christmas, however, that pretty much resulted in the retirement the ol’ Cortland… my first Sage rod. Between limited finances and some sort of anti-elitist urge to avoid the big name brands, I had never even casted one until I opened it from under the tree. After switching over a reel and making a few casts in the front yard, I knew the poor Cortland had probably seen its last days on the water.

Fast forward from Christmas to early May: winter is finally over and the Oklahoma Spring rains are making the fish go pretty much crazy. I’m out at a pond chasing after carp and throwing at mud plumes. After a nice cast to some nervous looking water I feel a little bump. A solid hookset results in some resistance… but no fight. I figure I must be dragging in some trash, but of course not. This guy surfaces:

Hardly even hooked... sheesh

I was running low on stock of the “hot” fly of the day and didn’t want to give it up without at least trying to get it back! So I did what any person in my situation would do (at least I keep telling myself that); I ran the rod tip down the leader to quickly jam the hook off of the turtle’s neck. Big, big mistake. A quick CHOMP later, and I’m tipless.

I was angry at myself for being an idiot and losing the tip of my new “baby” over a stupid fly, but hey, at least I had a warranty to fall back on. I took it back to the shop where it was purchased and was able to send it back to Sage with no problems. I’m not sure Tom at Backwoods believed me that the turtle was to blame, but off it went to get fixed.

A few weeks and $50 later, she was back and in pristine condition. A warranty success story, right? I thought so, and probably still think so… but I ran across this article by Zach Matthews on midcurrent.com that’s making me reevaluate my warranty position. Having loss protection from a private insurer sure sounds nice, especially for those times you (we) forget a rod on top of the car…