New Loomis NRX rod series

[bill hall]

Zack where is the older rod designer who used to build fast rods and is getting older and wants a little softer action now ,i need to look him up.

[Randy Kadish]

Here’s my question: If fly rods become so light how can they balance with today’s reels. True reels are getting lighter, but not so light.

Randy

[none]

Most rods are 9ft so the leverage will always be enough to balance light reels.
The weight saving is rarely more than marginal.

[Jay Hake]

…

Loomis = Steve Rajeff
Echo = Tim Rajeff
Sage = Jerry Siem

Those three gentlemen are large individuals, physically strong people.

Scott Rods = Jim Bartschi
Winston = formerly Sam Drukman, currently Annette McLean (the only lady rod designer right now)
Orvis = Jim LePage

Not to cast aspersions on anyone’s physicality, but those three are noticeably more lightly built in stature and/or upper body strength.  LePage and Bartschi are both athletic but on the shorter side compared to the top three.

…

I have often thought about this… and do I want a rod that’s designed by a distance casting champ, or by a top fisherman???I think I would rather want a fishing rod and not a casting rod…

I love my Z-Axis and hate the TCX, LPS over Horizon, G2 over S4… if you know where I am going.

Seems like this debate goes on every time a new rod is released.

[jonathan erwin]

Zach-
That’s interesting that Scott and Sage passed on the new resin. Any word on whether it had to do with durability? And, if so, I wonder if that had anything to do with Loomis changing the price on the Expeditor program? Thanks,
JE

[anonymous]

Let’s get serious.

If their new rods are so exceptional, why didn’t anybody tell their boss(?) that the color combo is butt ugly? Why not put the best marketing gig on earth to promote it at the very best way?

The owner Shimano surely has some marketing budget for such a high end fly rod company’s high end rods?

Makes me think back about Fenwick’s Ironfeather rod series. Fenwick & Ironfeather went down the drains…

I think it is a AWESOME color.

[anonymous]

…

Loomis = Steve Rajeff
Echo = Tim Rajeff
Sage = Jerry Siem

Those three gentlemen are large individuals, physically strong people.

Scott Rods = Jim Bartschi
Winston = formerly Sam Drukman, currently Annette McLean (the only lady rod designer right now)
Orvis = Jim LePage

Not to cast aspersions on anyone’s physicality, but those three are noticeably more lightly built in stature and/or upper body strength.  LePage and Bartschi are both athletic but on the shorter side compared to the top three.

…

I have often thought about this… and do I want a rod that’s designed by a distance casting champ, or by a top fisherman???I think I would rather want a fishing rod and not a casting rod…

I do not know much about Steve Rajeff, but maybe he is a badA** master flyfisherman as well as one of the top fly casters??

[anonymous]

i really like the looks of the scott g2 wish they were a little faster, my favorite rod of late has been 490 sage xp(someone stoll it from my car) and sage is bringing it back in 2011 with gen 5 tech. will be vxp in $500. price. loomis says they will have trout rods in the shops next week,warrenty one time break $50.repair after that replacement for each section will be $100.00 or more, i guess no more lifetime.

I read in the 2011 catalog that the nrx has a “wild card” program where the first fix is free.

[Mike McKeown]

…

Loomis = Steve Rajeff
Echo = Tim Rajeff
Sage = Jerry Siem

Those three gentlemen are large individuals, physically strong people.

Scott Rods = Jim Bartschi
Winston = formerly Sam Drukman, currently Annette McLean (the only lady rod designer right now)
Orvis = Jim LePage

Not to cast aspersions on anyone’s physicality, but those three are noticeably more lightly built in stature and/or upper body strength.  LePage and Bartschi are both athletic but on the shorter side compared to the top three.

…

I have often thought about this… and do I want a rod that’s designed by a distance casting champ, or by a top fisherman???I think I would rather want a fishing rod and not a casting rod…

I love my Z-Axis and hate the TCX, LPS over Horizon, G2 over S4… if you know where I am going.

Seems like this debate goes on every time a new rod is released.  I agree with Mike.  For a trout rod, I want a rod designed by trout fishermen (and women) for trout fishing, not distance casting.  In my humble opinion, if a rod gets too fast and light, it eventually doesn’t want to work within the realms of normal trout fishing (or at least the kind of trout fishing I do).  I end up over lining those rods to get them to work properly at a closer distance.  I guess this is why I tend to favor the rods of Scott, Winston, and to a lesser degree Orvis (although the new Helios is really nice).  Not that the other guys don’t make really fine rods, I know they do, they just aren’t generally my cup of tea.

I think the finest designer of trout rods on the planet is Tom Morgan.  He recognizes that a vast majority of trout are caught inside of 50 feet, so why do you want a rod designed to cast 100?  Go cast, and more importantly fish, a Morgan designed rod and you will see.

When it comes to bigger rods for salt and steel, I like a little faster, more tip flexing action and lighter and faster is more of a concept I appreciate.  I don’t think one style of rod fits all situations.  As I like to say, Michelangelo didn’t paint this Sistine Chapel ceiling with 1 paint brush. . .

Jay

Had a look at Toms web site, which should be called, Wounded Buffalo – the Tom Morgan Experience… hell that’s pricey for a stick.

[supranatural]

Here’s the skinny; you take this for what it’s worth and make your own judgment.

Loomis is debuting this rod with a new resin enhancement provided by 3M, called ‘nano silica.’  In many ways this is reminiscent of the “Nano-Titanium” craze of the early 2000s.  Basically, the idea is you put an additional component in the resin which holds the graphite (the longitudinal fibers) and the scrim (the lateral fibers, sometimes graphite, sometimes fiberglass) in the rod together.  This is intended to make the resin stronger, which allows them to use less of it, thereby making the rod lighter.  Lighter rods are more responsive when flexed and ultimately become higher-performance casting tools. (This is how Rajeff explained it to me a while back and he would certainly know).

Hardy is also using this same additive in their new rods.

Here’s the kicker: Sage and Scott both passed.

Hardy is also using the nano silicate as well from my understanding with the prototype rods that Andy Mill has been testing.

[Author]

Posts