G Loomis?

[gjcordray]

I hear very few people talking about G Loomis fly rods on this forum. I have absolutely no experience with them and know almost nothing about the company. I know they have a lot of top end offerings and their rods look beautiful in pictures. Does anybody have experience with them? Any opinions at all either way? I just never hear the brand name come up in recommendations.

Gary

 

[gt05254]

Gary - I love 'em. I own 4 Loomis NativeRun GLX's and 1 Loomis Shorestalker. They are incredibly light, and absolute cannons. And I like that they are available in longer lengths. I have the 9'6" 7wt, the 9'6" 8wt, the 10' 9wt all of which are, based on the weather and water conditions, my goto rods for atlantics and bonefish. I also have the 11' 8wt switch rod, which has not been out of its tube yet. The Shorestalker series is a more moderately fast series, and shorter...excellent for bass fishing, in my case. I have the 6 wt.

I have tried, and used for years, Orvis. Then T&T, Sage, Powell, Scott, etc, searching for the rods of my dreams. I found them in the Loomis NativeRun GLX series.
Happy casting,
Gary

 

[FrankB2]

They have Wilfred Brimley as a spokesman, and that makes it hard to get excited: G. Loomis Fly Rods



Seriously, one of the local shops carried Loomis, but stopped carrying them around 2003. They said dealing with the company was difficult, but I don't know what the inside scoop was. I've never seen a Loomis rod in any other fly shop, but I would guess their non-fly fishing rods do well. They certainly have a bunch of dealers in bait shops along the Jersey shore and Long Island
area.

 

[gt05254]

LOL, that's not Wilfred Brimley, and that's not the official Loomis site, its flyfishusa's idea of marketing a new rod.

BTW, I don't think I could be caught dead with an NRX...the colors are so....BASSMASTER.

The resale value of NativeRun GLX and CrossCurrent GLX is quite high, at least based on what I watch on fleabay. Don't know about fly shops carrying the brand...since there are none around here save the Orvis flagship store, I and my friends buy 'em online.

 

[BlueDun]

Gary, you are right, people on the forums talk about Loomis and seem to like them. Unfortunately, I can't answer your question. I replied b/c after reading several posts, I realized that I have never seen a Loomis fly rod. None of the fly shops I've been in (across several states) have carried Loomis......just thought that was interesting given that people do tend to like them and makes me wonder why.....do they have some company policies that make fly shops prefer not to deal with them?....Don't read anything into this post, just thinking "out loud" as I think I seen most of the more popular brands at one time or another.

 

[Cool Hand Hodge]

From what i have seen, they lost a lot of popularity when Gary Loomis sold the company to Shimano. Their rods are good though the prices are high (like everyone else). I have heard a lot of complaints about their warranty but its mostly hear say. Most people tend to think they will go the way of Fenwick. Sell out, move manufacturing overseas, stop innovating, go away. I hope not. They dont like to deal with smaller shops from what i hear. They like the big box stores like BPS, Cabelas, and Dicks. Unfortunately, fly fishing IS small shops as we are but a small industry. No support from fly shops typically means no support from fly fisherman.

 

[gt05254]

Since there is only one fly shop within 50 miles around here - and that is the Orvis flagship store - support by fly shops for a product means absolutely nothing to those of us who fly fish in the area.

I'm within an hour of the capital of NYS, and I don't believe there's even a fly shop there. Goldstock's is the only one I can think of, and they are about an hour and a half from me.

Loomis' marketing strategy is anybody's guess. All I know is I'm glad I discovered the brand...LOL, except for the fish skeleton logo. eww. I know guys that have even sanded it off the reelseat!

 

[vanceinak]

LOL, except for the fish skeleton logo. eww. I know guys that have even sanded it off the reelseat!

That's actualy a hugely popular window decal & hat/shirt here im Alaska!

They sell a lot of the G-Lomis rods in the <$200. range here for salmon fishing, including some combos with a cheal Phluger reel that I was looking at last night for about $120 in a 9'6wt 2pc. Most of the box type stores carry them. Very popular sockeye pole. Don't own one so I can't speak for the quality.

 

[Cool Hand Hodge]

Since there is only one fly shop within 50 miles around here - and that is the Orvis flagship store - support by fly shops for a product means absolutely nothing to those of us who fly fish in the area.

I'm within an hour of the capital of NYS, and I don't believe there's even a fly shop there. Goldstock's is the only one I can think of, and they are about an hour and a half from me.

Loomis' marketing strategy is anybody's guess. All I know is I'm glad I discovered the brand...LOL, except for the fish skeleton logo. eww. I know guys that have even sanded it off the reelseat!

Except for the fact that Gary Loomis has publicly lambasted them about their marketing in several public arenas pointing out that they dont like to deal with small shops.

 

[gt05254]

Cool Hand: Whatever. I really could care less about anything I've posted in this thread other than the fact that I really like Loomis NativeRun GLX rods and apologize to the thread originator for helping to get this thread sideways. As it stands at the moment, the thread has nothing to do with the original question.

The initial question in the thread was: does anybody have any experience with Loomis rods. Perhaps we got ourselves a little sideways into the minutiae of marketing or whatever. Actually, who cares?

My answer to the initial question stands: I really like Loomis NativeRun GLX rods and promise not to stray into marketing/fly shop/who said what/where/when/how.

 

[Sage & Abel]

I have one G Loomis and I love it - a 10' 8 wt. GLX Native Run. What a great rod. I really enjoy fishing it for Salmon/Steelhead on the larger tribs of Lake Michigan. I managed to break it on a foul hooked Salmon (don't ask). It's the first time I've ever broken a fly rod. I used their express one time replacement service where they send you a new rod and you send them back the broken rod and $100 because I was headed to the Pere Marquette in a couple days. The service was excellent.

My experience with their service is good. My experience with the rod is good. My local fly shop doesn't have them so I've never cast any of their trout rods when making recent purchases. But I like the one I have.

Cheers,
Mike.

 

[gt05254]

Yahoo! Now we're back on track!
Gary

 

[Rip Tide]

I have a 30 year old LLBean Double L 5wt built on a first generation Loomis blank.
Great casting rod with a similar action to my (fiberglass) Phillipson Royal

 

[Cool Hand Hodge]

I enjoy my Loomis rods as well.

Interesting factoid, they used to be the maker for the old Cabelas Fish eagle II...great rods.

 

[FrankB2]

LL Bean was selling their top-end Loomis made rods on close-out a couple years ago. I got there when only a few were left, but they were priced at around $70! One customer bought about 25 of the rods a couple of days earlier, and I met him while the salesman was joking about it. Oh well....

---------- Post added at 02:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:01 PM ----------

The Yellowstone Anglers 2011 5wt Shoot Out had two Loomis rods. Be sure to read the counter points for additional opinions:CLICK HERE

 

[imxer]

Love 'em.
Been using the IMX since it came out, 1987. Added a GLX a couple of years ago.

IMXER

 

[fredaevans]

This may be of some help: G Loomis Fly Rods

 

[cpowell]

I heard the new NRX was incredible. I went with the new Generation 5 590 though one of the big reasons was I had nowhere to cast a NRX...

Shimano has long been a premiere tackle manufacturer but I have heard that G Loomis became more difficult to deal with and they stopped with pro deals to a lot of shops...

 

[sjakes27]

been fishing imx/glx and now have the nrx 5wt and 6wt. the 5 feels like a 4 and the 6 can chuck a bug like nothing. been fishing them for 5 months now and really like them. sort of forget about the baby blue wraps after casting it few times...

Also have the Crosscurrent GLX 9ft 9wt which is my favorite for salt and its a very powerful rod.

 

[tollster]

Their rods are good though the prices are high (like everyone else). I have heard a lot of complaints about their warranty but its mostly hear say. They dont like to deal with smaller shops from what i hear. They like the big box stores like BPS, Cabelas, and Dicks. Unfortunately, fly fishing IS small shops as we are but a small industry. No support from fly shops typically means no support from fly fisherman.

I got my Loomis Eastfork from Cabelas and love it, I found the price to be right, much like a majority of the other items I purchased from the "Bigbox" store.

Let me clear up that warranty "hear say" I closed my tip in the tailgate and they federal expressed me a new one for $100.00 including the case. No questions asked, no reciepts, ect. Which wasn't a bad deal since it retailed for 410.00 and I got it for 200.00 in the bargain cave.