No Effort: New Loomis GLX Love

[Part 4 of a series.]

I’ve been told on more than one occasion by pros, rod people and everyday fishermen like you and me that so-and-so rod is “just as good as a Loomis.” I’m always willing to put that to the test.

Don’t mean bunsen burners, graphs and that kinda testing. Just mean tying on a bait and going out fishing.

What I’ve found is probably the same as you: Rods have gotten better and better overall, and for sure there are some nice ones out there now for relatively cheap. But at least in my case, I haven’t found a single rod than can stack up to a G. Loomis thunder feather from Valhalla, aka fishin’ rod.

So it’s without surprise, on the one hand, that I can say the new Loomis GLX rods I’ve wiggled and fished with are great. On the other hand, I was blown away with how good they are.

They’re definitely the stuff you’d expect in any Loomis rod: light, powerful, fun to fish. But this time they’re so perfectly balanced and designed, they literally feel alive (my opinion). They feel like they’re an extension of your (my) arm.

But don’t take my word for it. After all, I’m just a regular ol’ fishin’ schmo. Listen here to the one and only Ztrain who in addition to being a great fisherman is a Loomis endorser – and is a Loomis endorser because he flat out loves their products.

[Btw, all the new GLX rods aren’t out yet. Right now there’s just cranking and flipping, more on the way. The reason for that is in part 5 of this series.]

GLX Cranking

Z says, “Here’s the amazing thing about the GLX cranking rods right now and this is no lame sales pitch: I’ve grown up accepting that when you’re cranking, you’re supposed to use a rod that’s uncomfortable, like a wet noodle. You give up the sensitivity just because that’s the way it is.

“That’s how cranking rods have been designed, and as fishermen and students of all this, we’ve all accepted it. But here’s the difference now in the world of GLX and especially cranking rods: You can feel your bait and every single thing it’s doing.

“To me, that’s the No. 1 thing in cranking: Feeling the bait, understanding the bottom and what you’re trying to deflect off, and when that exact instance happens.

“I’ve heard some of the best crank fishermen in the world go, ‘I just bounced it off a rock or bumped it off a piece of wood,’ but I couldn’t tell. I knew it did something because it felt different, but it was so hard to distinguish what [the bait] was doing because crankbait rods have been so hard to fish over the years.”

He adds that older-style crankbait rods “made you so fatigued – it’s almost like watching a cowboy with a lasso. To me, crankbait rods have been cumbersome and fatiguing. Now to get them lightweight, sensitive and performing is amazing.”

Poe Love

Zona says he called Loomis rod designer Justin Poe, the guy who designed the new GLXs, after he beat on the rods for a while and said, “Thank you so much for designing these. No. 1, thanks for designing the new line of rods. The second part was he nailed it on the actions. There’s a weapon in that lineup for everyone. There’s none missed.”

[End of part 4 of a series.]