Joined
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235 Posts
Peter and anyone of interest,
I got my Loop Blue 12'4" 8wt(Peter.....the one you are getting right?) in 3 days after I ordered it. It was brand new and it is a great rod. I wish I would have shown you at the Great Lakes clave, but I never brought it out....too many rods to try.
The rod is quite fast, and has alot of reserve power in the butt. It is fairly light, and balanced well with a Ross BG Canyon 7, which is fairly light as well. When I tested it, I used a floating Rio Atlantic salmon/steelhead taper(9wt) with an indicator, 14' leader and a small splitshot with a tandem rig of two nymph patterns. This is a typical GL rig since we need to get down deep to work runs, slots, pockets, chutes and shallower lies, quickly with a drag free drift. It produced long casts, but you could see that the tip produced enough of the power to lay out 60-80' casts with ease, with enough power in the butt to make longer casts or when loading heavier lines or heads/tips. With a weighted fly, sinking leader or a 200-400 grain sinking head it should work well. I wouldn't know what the rod was made to do, but it is perfect here in our Great Lakes, and might make a good summer rod in the Pacific NW. It may of been made for shooting heads in Scandanavia, which I could see where the rod would be perfect. I plan on using it in the surf for steelhead since it would allow shooting heads to be casted with ease. The only drawbacks I see is that it has only one small stripper guide(I like larger strippers, maybe 2 or 3) and the shorter handle. I can see why Loop might do this, maybe since it might be made for shooting and isn't necessary to have such items.
I just firgured I would let you know what I thought of this rod and hope you get it soon.

I got my Loop Blue 12'4" 8wt(Peter.....the one you are getting right?) in 3 days after I ordered it. It was brand new and it is a great rod. I wish I would have shown you at the Great Lakes clave, but I never brought it out....too many rods to try.
The rod is quite fast, and has alot of reserve power in the butt. It is fairly light, and balanced well with a Ross BG Canyon 7, which is fairly light as well. When I tested it, I used a floating Rio Atlantic salmon/steelhead taper(9wt) with an indicator, 14' leader and a small splitshot with a tandem rig of two nymph patterns. This is a typical GL rig since we need to get down deep to work runs, slots, pockets, chutes and shallower lies, quickly with a drag free drift. It produced long casts, but you could see that the tip produced enough of the power to lay out 60-80' casts with ease, with enough power in the butt to make longer casts or when loading heavier lines or heads/tips. With a weighted fly, sinking leader or a 200-400 grain sinking head it should work well. I wouldn't know what the rod was made to do, but it is perfect here in our Great Lakes, and might make a good summer rod in the Pacific NW. It may of been made for shooting heads in Scandanavia, which I could see where the rod would be perfect. I plan on using it in the surf for steelhead since it would allow shooting heads to be casted with ease. The only drawbacks I see is that it has only one small stripper guide(I like larger strippers, maybe 2 or 3) and the shorter handle. I can see why Loop might do this, maybe since it might be made for shooting and isn't necessary to have such items.
I just firgured I would let you know what I thought of this rod and hope you get it soon.