G Loomis Fly Rods

[AK-49]

I had a chance to pick up this rod for about half price a while back but didn't .. A good rainbow rod... Anyone here own any G Loomis Rods

http://products.gloomis.com/gl/products/fly/detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441806174&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302054244&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181201&bmUID=1241026236496

[ncboman]

Way outta my league.

I use an 8ft Berkley Cherrywood graphite mostly but it's unusual to hook a 5lb fish here. 90+% of the fish I catch on a flyrod weigh less than a pound.

The summer sun really abuses rods down here and I wouldn't fancy a hi-dollar Loomis layin out in it. :rolleyes:

ncboman

[TinStar]

AK,

Whatever floats your boat friend; but I won't spend money on the high end stuff. Some rods acn cost as much as good rifle; and for what? Been fly-fishing simce my late teens and the trend that I have winessed over the years troubles me. I'd say more on the topic, but gotta go. Perhaps later, or you can PM me. My favs that I use most are reasonable priced Cabela's.

TinStar
Soli Deo Gloria!

[dave-t.]

I have a buddy that has used a G-Loomis spinning rod since he was a teeenager. Lifetime warrantee on them, and he's turned it in to them twice that I know of. He's still fishing with it as his main spinning out fit.

Of course I had another buddy that bought one, and less than a year later dropped it over the side of the boat.:(

[swamp]

i've done a little bit of upgrading with my spinning rods. The better rods do increase the experience at least for me, especially when fishing 8 or more hours without a break.

[dave-t.]

I tried talking my wife into a pair of them, one for each of us, when we were fishing 80-100 days per year. She said her $50 rod worked fine for her, so I didn't push the issue. Heck, my favorite ultralight is 13yrs old and on its third or fourth reel and real close to that number in replacement tips. :rolleyes:

[DancesWithKnives]

When I had a very good job a few years ago I treated myself to a Loomis travel spinning rod, suitable for silver and king salmon, and an appropriate reel. I don't think I caught a great deal more fish but on several two-week wilderness raft trips, fishing hours every day, I greatly enjoyed using it. I expect it to last for many years and the enjoyment I get from using it makes it well worth the money to me.

DWK

[Bushman]

I was a Fenwick guy for a lot of years and over that time I went from fishing the Great Lakes for trout and salmon where you need a soft action rod to mostly vertical jigging for walleyes. I tried those same soft action rods and even fly rods for jigging, but not any more. Some years back my fishing buddy pointed out that I was really raising my rod a lot to hook a fish. I was hooking the little ones all right, but those big Canadian walleyes that I wanted to catch were getting off. Those fish are old fish and they have very tough mouths. Added to that we get a little complacent about setting the hook after we do it so often during the day. I started going to 7' medium power fast action St. Croix rods with the Tidemaster / TS70MF3 being my favorite pack rod. My hook sets went up on the larger fish, but I wanted even more of them. The last straw was when a king sized walleye nearly took the rod out of my hands on the last day and stayed on long enough for me to tell that it was the biggest fish of the week. After that about four years ago I bit the bullet and bought the 6' 9" G. Loomis ETR 81-3 MHS-15 3pc fast action rod in their Escape series and never looked back. Those hook sets bury the barb in any fish and my big fish score is way up because of it. This rod loads so fast and is so sensitive that what ever I paid for this rod has been well worth it. There are at least 5 different modulus carbon composites and those upper grades do cost a lot more. What ever G. Loomis has wound into this rod is getting the job done for me. This is a spinning rod not a fly rod, but I appreciate a quality product and if this rod and another ultralight G. Loomis rod that I had is representative, they get an A+ rating from me.

[swamp]

Bushman I will trade you a shakespear ugly stick for that G Loomis

[Bushman]

My buddy used an Ugly Stick for a few years and he found out that fiber glass does not load like carbon composite does. I do like to cast with a fiber glass rod because the tip is more active, but when it comes to crossing a big fish's eyes with a hook set, nothing beats a high modulus carbon blank. Ultra lights are fun, but if you want to hook into big fish, bring enough rod. We are coming up on year 30 into Canada this year and I wish that I had learned more about rods years ago. Every year we would get those kind of hits that brings a guy back to fish. Early on I was chalking those big lost fish up to bad luck, dull hooks, line stretch, bad technique. I'm older and wiser now that I bring better rods.

[Altjaeger]

My rods are mostly either the graphite bought from Cabelas back in the 80s or Ugly Sticks picked up in the last couple of years. They will just have to do for a while.

[Bill Gunn]

I switched to St. Croix rods years ago for perch fishing, and would now buy no other for jigging.

I'm sure G Loomis are just as good....

[jimmyd223]

I guess I am lucky to have grown up and went all through school with Gary Loomis.
Before Loomis rods and G Loomis, Gary started and owned Lamiglass Rods and I still have several that get yearly use. I have somewhere around 10-12 Loomis rods and a couple custom's that Gary built for me to fish Alaska.If not the best they are one of the best in my opinion. It is my understanding that Loomis is now owned by Shamono.

[AK-49]

Jimmy, thanks for the heads up about shimano now owning g loomis... have the g loomis rods went down in quality since the buy out?

Are you still in alaska? What part of alaska do you fish in?

[jimmyd223]

AK-49, I really haven't paid much attention to the Loomis rods since the sell out. I know Gary was fighting the big "C" and that was the reason for selling.

I was up in King Salmon, it was a yearly trip for 10 days over the fourth of July with my dad. A trip he always enjoyed and one that will always have good memories of him for me. Since he passed away, I just can't bring myself to go back up.

[AK-49]

I finally broke down and got the g loomis flyrood GLX that was on sale .... and a g loomis eastfork fly reel.. sportsmans warehouse filed chapter 11 and has some good deals on a few items

[GF.]

I own good flyrods and cheap spinning tackle. I can cast my 9-wt for hours, but I get tired after about 2 dozen casts with one of my Big Bazooka spinning rigs. Especially the one the manufacturer calls 'the Bruiser'. That thing makes my 9-foot UglyStik look like a magic wand, but I did get it with hucking quarter-pound baits in mind....

The lighter rods are better, of course, and I actually have a couple of IM6 & IM7 rods spooled up with 8 or 10-pound. I got the first of those right after I lost a big (for me, anyway ;) ) bass in a little pond up north. It wasn't the hook-set, but I was using a Cherrywood rod that just didn't have the guts to haul the fish away from a downed tree, so when it got fouled in the branches there was nothing to do but break it off and hope the hook rusted out before the fish starved.

Now that Cherrywood gets used by #1 son. It loads up real slowly and he can throw a 2" kastmaster knock-off a good 60-70 feet. And I got a better answer to the big UglyStik last winter when Cabela's was clearing out an IM8 10-footer that's a whole lot stiffer for the same line & lure weight. So I'm upgrading - slowly - from my bargain-bin gear to stuff that I think fewer people would actually laugh at.

Is a high-dollar flyrod worth the price? Beats me, 'cuz I've never paid retail on one :D

But seriously... It really depends how you fish and how well you can cast. My 'fast' 6-wt doesn't throw a popper nearly as far as my 'slow' one does, but it's a lot better for pounding a tighter loop into a stiff breeze when I'm trying to throw a #12 elk hair caddis across a bigger stretch of river, and it's a lot niftier for reaching across goofy currents to get a nymph where it needs to go. More expensive rods usually have more and better-finished guides, which can help your cast a bit, and the same 'sensitivity' that tells me when a plug is running free or fouled translates into a better feel for how the rod is loading... At least when I'm paying attention to it ;)

And don't forget - compared to a fairly expensive (in its day) bamboo rod, a $50 job is probably a small miracle.