G. Loomis Two-Hand Fly Rods

G. Loomis Two-Hand Fly Rods in-stock, no sales tax - $50 orders ship free in USA.

Introducing The New Roaring River Two-Hand Series
Grease Line Series HiTech Traditional Spey	Dredger Series Leading Edge Skagit Style	Stinger Series Scandinavian Fast Action

(Written 12/19/04) The marketplace is a competitive arena. Continual product testing is part of the game. You have to know more than your competition. It probably wouldn't surprise you to find out that many other fly shops around the country refer to our web site for their primary information on Spey rod fishing. We also get the cleverly disguised calls from guys working in other shops so that they can advise there customers in a more enlightened manner. Quite a few other shop personnel subscribe to our weekly on-line newsletter. To all those guys we say, "Thanks for putting your faith in us. Here is your next product test report."
	My winters are spent in pursuit of winter steelhead with two-handers and sinking tip lines . A fourteen foot, nine weight rod is the size I like best for winter fishing on local rivers. I just received two new 14' RoaringRiver two-handers from G. Loomis. One is a Greased Line FR1688/9-4 GLX (14' #8/9) and the other is a Dredger Series FR1689/10-4 GLX (14' #9/10). Like many other members of the steelhead fishing community, I've become interested in Skagit Style of two-hand fly rod fishing. The Dredger Series is
designed specifically for Skagit Casting. The Skagit Style incorporates a short, heavy shooting-head type line with a sinking tip and very large, weighted flies. Many of the rods used by Skagit anglers are relatively lightweight. Rods of less than 14' are most common, but I like the authority the bigger rod gives me. Added was a G. Loomis reel and a Rio 10/11/12 WindCutter w/tips line with the tip-2 section replaced with a 5' Skagit Cheater and the standard 11-weight, type-8 tip weighing 173 grains was also added. This gave the fly line a head length of 44' with a weight of 643 grains. This outfit casts very smooth in the ranges from 50'-80'. For a period the type-8 tip was replaced with 16' of T-14 weighing 224 grains. With a total head weight of 695 grains this line felt heavy on this rod. However, the rod handled it okay and the T-14 tip took the fly deeper. It was during this test that a 30" steelhead was hooked and landed. The FR1689/10-4 GLX Dredger (14' #9/10) is a comfortable rod and I'm glad to own one. It is a good choice where large tube flies, string leaches and intruders are fished with medium length casts of less than 70'. There is a lot of that kind of water in the rivers I fish. The Greased Line FR1688/9-4 GLX 14' 8/9 rod was fitted with an Abel 4N and a stock 8/9/10 WindCutter with the standard 9-weight type-8 tip. This proved to be the longer range weapon of the two outfits tested. While I was testing this outfit Marty Sheppard came floating down the river in his pontoon boat. I had just made a cast and the 5" long string leech fly was deep in the water following a seam. The rod was pointed down stream, but I was looking upstream at Marty. A steelhead ripped out my shock loop, but didn't stick. Repeated casts wouldn't bring it back. We cast each of the two G. Loomis rods and agreed that we liked the feel of the Greased Line FR1688/9-4 GLX the best of the two. This rod balances perfectly with a Abel 4N Ported reel and casts very comfortably with a WindCutter 8/9/10 line.

Many dollars worth of GLX with Steve Choate, Ed Ward & Brian Silvey in the back ground.

(Written 12/19/04) Ever wish you had the perfect spey rod? How about having access to all the best casting instructors? Assets like these could make your time on the water more productive. Maybe I've been there... I got to spend Tuesday on the Sandy with Steve Rajef, Steve Choate, Ed Ward, Brian Silvey, Mike Perusse and about 50 new Loomis Roaring River two-handers. This was nearly a double set of Loomis' 24 new models. We loaded all the people and gear into two boats and spent all day fishing and testing

gear in the pouring rain. The river was high and slightly off-color. Can you think of a better environment for a bunch of steelhead addicts? I've got to tell you; this is a great bunch of guys to spend a day with. It was a ball. The best part was I hooked a steelhead on my second cast of the morning. The bad part was it didn't stay on very long. Our group had several other pulls and plucks during the day. There were fish around.

My own particular goal for the day was to find a selection of rods that would give the best advantage for covering the water I fish in the winter. From my perspective the 8/9/10
Rio WindCutter with changeable tips has proven to be the best size and configuration of line. A 9/10/11 in the same line is a close second choice. I use both lines to fit the different situations we normally encounter any day. The tips we normally use the most is either a type-6 or type-8 in the standard 15' length. Lately we have also been using 20' of T-14 attached to the rear section of a 9/10/11. I started out with a FR1689/10-4 GLX Dredger rod loaded with

Steve Rajef fishes the Sandy River in the pouring rain.

an 8/9/10 and a stock type-6 sinking tip. This rod was designed for Skagit Casting and its design was heavily influenced by Ed Ward. The first thing that impressed me was how light this rod is. It is also really well balanced. The Dredger Series are designed around the "continuous load" casting style and as such are designed to bend into the butt. These rods are pretty traditional in how they bend and store energy. They are quite different from the fast European style rods that I have been using lately. It took me a while to adjust my timing and stroke length. Once I did, the rod was comfortable and the water was easily covered. Then the same size rod in the lower priced Kispiox series was tried. It was noticeably slower, but still pleasant to cast. Next rod tried was the FR1807/8-4 GLX Greased Line with the same WindCutter 8/9/10 line. It bent down quite a bit with the weight of this line and I trotted it up river to let Brian Silvey cast it. We both agreed that a lighter line might work even better. When I put the 8/9/10 line on the FR1688/9-4 GLX Greased Line rod, it was love at first cast. This combination takes the challenge out of covering big water. Out of the models that I was able to try, it fit the size of the river and my style of casting the best. In a phone conversation with Brian Silvey the day after the float, we agreed that it was the crown jewel in what we had tested.
At one point Steve Choate and Steve Rajef were playing around with a FR1929/10-4 GLX. That's a 16' #9/10 monster rod. Choate was firing 130-foot single spey casts across the river. I had to try it. My casts were 30' shorter. Wow! What a big stick. Also tried were the FR1507/8-3 GLX Stinger and FR1689/10-3 GLX Stinger models. These are very lightweight, fast action rods that have a lot of appeal. I ordered FR1807/8-4 GLX Greased Line and FR1688/9-4 GLX Greased Line for my personal use. When my bank account recovers from that transaction, I may also order a FR1689/10-4 GLX Dredger and FR1689/10-3 GLX Stinger to

round out my collection. So what is my impression of the new G.Loomis RoaringRiver Series two-hand fly rods? My one word summation is: "Masterful". G.Loomis has dedicated an extraordinary amount of time and resources toward their new rods. Not one model I tested felt "rushed-to-market". Each one had been proven on the water and each proved to be a manageable and useful tool. When I asked Steve Rajef what he considered to be the most important rod design parameters, his reply was, "The highest amount of line speed in the lightest weight package". That about sums it up!

Ed Ward & Steve Choate testing G.Loomis rods.

(Written 10/04) Seven months ago we told you how long-distance spey caster Steve Choate had joined with Steve Rajeff at G. Loomis. Rajeff is G. Loomis Director of Research & Development at G.Loomis. He's the guy who designs all of the G.Loomis fly rods. With the addition of Choate, we predicted that this team would raise the bar on two-hand fly rod design. We were right. There are a whole new series of G. Loomis spey rods and by every account they are exceeding everyone's expectations. What we didn't realize when we published the article below is that Skagit-miester: Ed Ward had

also joined the team. And Swedish salmon-angler/tournament-caster Leif Stavno also be came a member of this elite group. We also didn't realized the monitary assets the G. Loomis company was willing to put behind this project. Their vision is huge. There are 24 NEW MODLES of G. Loomis two-handers. (A production run of this many brand new models of 2-hand fly rods is unheard of!) All models are new from from the inside-out and outside-in. Each rod model is unique, designed and tested to fit a specific practical purpose.

	We decided to acquire the G. Loomis line of fly rods very soon after we heard that Steve Choate had joined their pro staff. Steve won the International Spey Casting championship at Broadlands on the Test River in England in 2002 with a single spey cast measuring 50 yards. He is a long time friend and his
on-the-water presentations have been a big draw to the Sandy River Spey Clave each year. Right now G. Loomis GLX two-handers will compete with anything in the world. We figure however that Steve Choate working with G. Loomis' Chief Designer Steve Rajeff will produce two-hand fly rods of unapproachable performance. We can't wait!

"My first three two-handers were made by G. Loomis. They were a 13'-#9/10 IMX, 14'-9/10 GL3 and a 15'-8/9 IMX that Jim Barlow, Steve Rajeff and I designed together in 1991. To my way of thinking, it was the best Deschutes rod I ever owned. Unfortunately it never went into production, but I fished the prototype for 10 years. I wore the fore grip in my thumb spot nearly to the blank on 14'-#9/10 GL3. It landed a lot of winter steelhead for me." Mark Bachmann

Mark Bachmann with a Sandy River steelhead.

Mark Bachmann caught this steelhead with a G.Loomis two-hander in 1995.
Fish long & prosper !!!

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