# Recon 2 VS Maverick



## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

These look to be the recent entrants into the mid priced saltwater world. Has anyone had a chance to try either and have any thoughts?


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## "FloridaMan" (Jan 22, 2020)

If you haven't seen it yet Trident has some reviews of these rods under "fly rod reviews". I was checking it out this morning. I can't post a link because I'm a "noob"


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

BrownDog said:


> These look to be the recent entrants into the mid priced saltwater world. Has anyone had a chance to try either and have any thoughts?


Back in January at a casting competition and fly show, I saw the Maverick and felt it up. As I played around with it without casting it, I told the Florida Sage rep that it had the feel of the Motive and he said that was exactly right. They recently discontinued the Motive and infused the Sage's Kinetic technology into it and then released it as the Maverick. So the Kinetic technology helps in rod bounce and tip bounce recovery and gives it a slightly faster edge to the rod. I'm surprised they just didn't call it the Motive HD. Anyway, the feel of the rod, in today's standards is a "fast" action with a nice smooth feel to the rod (no wobble) on the shoot or layout. I would say it'll make a great redfish rod or casting up in the mangroves. It appears to still lack the distance punch like the Motive. But then again, it's designed for those specific action as a fast rod.

You'll learn that not every super fast rod that can bomb an entire fly line is great for every fishing situation and it's good to have handy 1 or 2 rods that fish very comfortably and easy to throw at ranges from 20 to 50, maybe 60ft. This is one of those rods. In picking out the specific difference, it has some bend or "give" lower in the rod than the tip, which remains "fast", which is opposite to the Loomis NRX Gen 1, which is faster down the rod, but the tip has more flex or bend to it. So the Motive has more of a "mid flex" to it while the NRX Gen 1 has more of a "tip flex" to it. I hope that makes sense to you.

On the Recon 2 side.... I've fished the original Orvis Hydros back in the day (for this discussion, we'll refer to it as the "H1") and it had a nice parabolic flow to the entire rod. They called it a "tip flex," but it was extra fast back then (which in today's standards, is more like "fast" with a slight extra fast edge). But the entire rod bend in the same manner, in more of a parabolic flow, evenly through the rod. That was the thing that was the most impressive about it, where in the day, Orvis had Mid Flex destinations and Tip Flex stamped right on the rods. And those Tip Flex rods had stiffer butt and mid sections with a slightly softer tip. The whole process of this technology felt heavy on the swing on close to mid range shots, but would bomb a line when needed, whereas the Mid Flex felt easier and lighter on the swing in short to mid range (fishable distances), but took some real effort to bomb a line on a windy flat. So there was compromises on both sides.

So out came the H1. Considered extra fast back then, but not stiff in the butt or mid section. It was designed to be lighter overall and lighter on the swing, with a rod bend flow that went from tip top to rod handle. The end results was a very fast action rod that you can fish ok in closer range than their previous tip flex rods but still be able to bomb a line on a windy wide open flat.

Fast forward to the H2. They released the H2 with newer resin technology and added a different wrap to the scrim of the rod. The results was a slightly lighter rod yet and a little extra faster than the previous H1. So it got all the rave reviews from the Orvis shops and diehard fans. I also had many opportunities to fish them and for me, being the gear knucklehead and advanced caster that I am, I could tell the improvement and the rod was considered to be "Extra Fast". But to the intermediate casting angler, it was hard to tell the difference. So Orvis still had all these H1 blanks lying around, along with the mandrels to make new H1 blanks and decided if they added a lesser quality reel seat than the H2 and slightly inferior hardware and wrapping and finish, they come out with a mid rage price point rod using the H1 blank for those people that didn't need or couldn't afford in their budget the H2 rods. So the Orvis Recon was born as they re-branded the previous H1.

Today, as what Orvis' treads have it, I suspect the Recon 2 is to the H3D as what the Recon was to the H2. So I think Orvis is re purposing the H2 blanks to keep up with the times and technologies and have released the Recon 2. I don't know this as fact, but I have a friend that works for an Orvis dealer and I'll call him today and ask if he can run it up the channel and ask, tho because of the COVID-19 thing going on, I'm not sure if anyone is working there till this thing blows over. But if I was betting on this, I'd throw money down on that call that Orvis made, which to be, would be more conservatively spent than throwing money at the stock market these days. 

IF, and I mean...."IF" I'm wrong on this one, the only other thing I can think of is that they are using the materials still of the H1 or even the H2 and then using their better resin technology they use in the H3D. It'd be interesting for my own knowledge what exactly it is.






Just saw this video and it appears that they may be using the H3 technology resin in the H1 material (previous Recon) and mandrel to help dampen the rod and cause it to be lighter and slightly faster without loosing that overall parabolic feel, which he discloses is the mark between H3D (extra fast tip flex for distance) or the H3F (Mid Flex for Feel or Flex). But it's be interesting to see exactly what it is.

Depending on exactly you'd be using it for, for overall performance fishing here in Florida, if I had the choice to choose, without casting them side by side or even casting them at all, It'd be the Recon 2. But that is me with my preference of prefering a very fast parabolic action rod. I'd say if you are somewhat new to the game and want something that you can feel what the rod and line is doing without looking at them, then the Maverick may be a better choice for you, since it will have more forgiveness and easier at those "fishable" distances for you (or to whomever is reading this post and curious themselves).

Found this video to back up what I just said about the Maverick.







Ted Haas


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

Thanks for the detailed response Ted.

I echo your thoughts on action, and have heard similar accounts on the orvis line.


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## tight_lines_fl (May 10, 2018)

have not had a chance to cast the maverick, but own a recon 2 and can say it is an awesome rod with an awesome warranty


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## Hank (Jan 14, 2019)

From the description I'd like one of these Mavericks. A hard tip that levers down in the mid section of the rod does make an easy to cast rod, IMO. Of course I just bought another Salt HD.


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## crboggs (Mar 30, 2015)

My primary 8wt is an old school (green wrap) NRX 8wt. But I'm seriously considering one of the Sage Maverick's as a back up rod...especially considering how many short shots I find myself making here in the bay area. Also like what I am hearing about the rod liking a bonefish line which is what I tend to throw in the winter months when the water is clean and skinny. I am not a fan of over-lining (cheating) so that I can load the rod more easily...

I just need to cast one so that I can see how the rod does picking up line off the water...something that the NRX seems to do better than any other 8wt I've handled...and something you MUST be able to do for redfish around here...


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## jay.bush1434 (Dec 27, 2014)

I have an 8wt Maverick. Was able to cast one of the pre-release demo rods and ordered one right away. I've caught quite a few fish on mine by now and have had a chance to try out 5 different lines. So I'd class this rod as fast action but in the style of the old Sage Z-axis but with very good tip recovery. The rod loads a little deeper in the blank than a typical fast action salt water rod. One of the things I like most about it is the ability to make short, accurate casts. Like the kind of "Oh crap, fish at 20' 10 o'clock and coming at you! Cast now!" kind of cast. I'm a lefty so that is a tricky cast to make quick and accurate offhand from the ready. Anyway, stretching it out, the rod seems really good at the 20-60' distances. I can easily get 80' cast out of the rod but I tend to lose some accuracy beyond 70'. My buddy can send the whole line with out much fuss so I know the rod has the power.
To me, it feels like the rod doesn't like to be overpowered so I didn't like lines with really short front tapers or plus line weights. I tried SA Grand Slam, SA Mastery Bonefish, Rio Redfish, Orvis Pro All Arounder smooth, and SA Infinity Salt. For me the Mastery Bonefish was a magic combo. My least favorite was the Infinity salt. The others were all good; Orvis, Rio Redfish, and Grand Slam in that order. What line works/feels best is somewhat subjective to the caster but most people that have cast my Maverick agree the Bonefish line feels really good.
When fighting a good fish, you can feel the rod bend into the midsection but then get powerful and you can really put the heat on the fish. I think Sage hit a homerun with this rod and Sage has sold out of them once already. I'm looking to try out a the 690 with fighting butt and the 1090.


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

I have a maverick on the way in and should be here Tuesday. 
I went with a flats pro line instead of the usual redfish taper for the reasons listed above about the rods action. We shall see how it does.


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

I finally got everything in my hands and set up yesterday. I have not gotten on the water yet but have done some yard casting. The dark blue blank looks awesome.

In regards to the rod the action was nice and as described. It loads deep enough into the blank that it has a good amount of feel. Along with that though it does not loose power. I could really step on it in my fore cast and the rod handles it well and did not get mushy. I feel this is going to be a great redfish rod for what I need.

I casted first with orvis hydros SW all around. Line shot well but felt a little clunky, this made me feel better about not putting a redfish line on it.

next up was Rio flats pro. You could tell it was a heavier line but did not behave in the same manner. It was easy to go from ready position and shoot line on the cast and laid out extremely well.


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## Nick_TX27 (Apr 27, 2021)

crboggs said:


> My primary 8wt is an old school (green wrap) NRX 8wt. But I'm seriously considering one of the Sage Maverick's as a back up rod...especially considering how many short shots I find myself making here in the bay area. Also like what I am hearing about the rod liking a bonefish line which is what I tend to throw in the winter months when the water is clean and skinny. I am not a fan of over-lining (cheating) so that I can load the rod more easily...
> 
> I just need to cast one so that I can see how the rod does picking up line off the water...something that the NRX seems to do better than any other 8wt I've handled...and something you MUST be able to do for redfish around here...


Did you ever make a decision? I’m looking at a Maverick and thought I saw another comment about it struggling with picking line up off the water.


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## crboggs (Mar 30, 2015)

Nick_TX27 said:


> Did you ever make a decision? I’m looking at a Maverick and thought I saw another comment about it struggling with picking line up off the water.


Love the Sage Maverick. It doesn't pick up line like my NRX does...but its not realistic to expect it to.

The Maverick is a great backwater rod where you want short / mid range shots that need more finesse than the NRX has.

The NRX still dominates the open, windy flats in the 8wt space...but if the wind isn't up and blowing, I find myself grabbing the Maverick more and more often.


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## Nick_TX27 (Apr 27, 2021)

crboggs said:


> Love the Sage Maverick. It doesn't pick up line like my NRX does...but its not realistic to expect it to.
> 
> The Maverick is a great backwater rod where you want short / mid range shots that need more finesse than the NRX has.
> 
> ...


Awesome! Good to hear! Any line recommendations? (Clear tip)


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## crboggs (Mar 30, 2015)

Nick_TX27 said:


> Awesome! Good to hear! Any line recommendations? (Clear tip)


No clear tip recommendations...but I do like the SA Mastery Bonefish line on it. With a Lamson Speedster on there the whole thing is super light.


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