Opening trout season in Minnesota put the Saga Outfitters Crisis Series rod (7’, mid‑light, fast) to the test, and it absolutely delivered. The day started at 27 degrees, frozen guides and all, and the first thing I noticed was how ridiculously light this rod feels compared to my usual 6’6” St. Croix. Even with the cold, it stayed very fishable. I’ve dealt with frozen guides plenty of times with traditional eyelets, but clearing ice off the smaller guides on this rod was surprisingly easier and didn’t slow me down much. For a light rod, it has a lot of backbone. I threw floating Rapala Raps, similar hard baits in small and larger sizes, and even a 1/4‑oz vibrating Roostertail, and was able to land fish on all of them. On the smallest streams, I really got to dial it in throwing a 1/32‑oz hair jig on 6‑lb test, and it handled that finesse setup perfectly. Even in tight, brushy water only 4–5 feet wide, the 7‑foot length was a non‑issue. Casts were accurate and controlled, and the rod never felt awkward in close quarters. Sensitivity was unreal too — at one point I could literally feel raindrops hitting the blank. Overall, the Crisis Series is just a fun rod to fish. Light, sensitive, and versatile enough to handle everything from tiny hair jigs to larger trout baits, even in cold, early‑season conditions.

I recently had the chance to take our canoe on a small wilderness river for some early season smallie fishing with my new Saga Crisis Medium action spinning rod. The water was really cold, actually we still had ice flows floating by.. so obviously a slow finesse presentation was going to be key. I was casting a 3” swim bait and the first thing I noticed was even though I was sitting down, the rod length and the short handle made casting almost effortless. Honestly, I would have normally went for a medium light rod but I wanted to try out my new rod.. and it really impressed me with not just the easy casting but also the sensitivity. I could maintain contact with my jig even wearing gloves.. and by design it really helped to have my fingers on the rod blank, I could feel everything. But, hands down the weight was the biggest benefit.. I’m 65 years old and am on the water over 100 days a year.. my hands, wrists and knuckles take a beating, so lightweight, high quality equipment is essential. I’ll call this a very fishable, versatile rod that is cleverly designed. I’m excited to try more rods from Saga, this company truly understands what is needed to thoroughly enjoy the entire fishing experience.

Broke out the new Crisis 7’3” ML rod on my initial river trip of the season. I’m going to give a detailed review because there is a lot happening with this rod. I paired it with a Diawa Tatula loaded with light diameter braid and a 18”, 8 lb flouro leader. I was fishing a 1/4 oz hair jig with a 3” paddle tail and targeting catch and release river smallies. The river was high, and cold and I was trying to fish slow and maintain contact with my jig… which can be challenging because the same advantage of the hair helping to slow the fall, can make it tough to feel the jig in the current. The short handle is perfect because I fish sitting down in small boats and it didn’t force my arms to extend or poke me in the rib cage. The rod casted really well, I could feel the jig load on the back cast and I’ll admit I was skeptical about the micro small eyes on the top half of the rod, but I felt no drag as the line was smoothly pulled through the eyes by my light jig. I will say I will need to be aware of my leader length and my uni knot size, but with the set up I had there was no issue. Once I started my retrieve the first thing I noticed due to how crazy light the rod is, is that as soon as I contacted bottom, or dragged through dead weed stalks, I could immediately feel when the bait was fouled, and when I was touching bottom…huge advantage. Because when fishing in these conditions no two casts feel the same, mainly due to the current level, so it’s super important to get immediate feedback from your bait. On my third cast I felt the classic slack line thump on the drop, I reeled down and hooked a solid fish. It was a 34” musky and it fought like a typical cold water river musky.. slow, powerful runs.. but I soon realized that I was going to be able to control the fish… the only way to describe it was I felt like I was fighting the fish on the whole rod. I have found sometimes these lightweight ultra sensitive fitness spinning rods really lack the flex needed in the lower half of the rod to actually lean into the fish. To me it’s a fine line between having the spine for hook sets yet the softness to absorb the fight in the fish. The location of the reel seat forces your fingers to be in contact with the rod blank.. which certainly helps feeling bites. I did notice since I was fishing in 38 degrees that I was not holding cork.. and it felt a bit colder on the fingers.. but not a big issue and I don’t fish in 38 degrees very often. Final initial impression is fishing this rod was a really positive experience. The simplicity in the design delivered very impressive results in all the areas that matter. I look forward to trying other techniques. Bravo Saga!! I’m a fan!