LOOP Fly Rods
My personal LOOP tackle recommendations
(find below comments about the tackle I am/was using during the last year)
LOOP Single Hand Rods
LOOP Evotec 9 ft. #5 mf (3 piece)
The new Evotec rods come with the x-grip. I like that grip especially for heavy line weight. Nevertheless it also helps with a #5 to keep the track very well as the rod will not turn during the forward cast. So it can keep the track better. This is especially true if the grip is wet or you tend to have wet hands. The artificial cork is a bit heavier but it is much more resistant to abrasion and the grip will still look good after years. The rod comes in f(fast), mf(medium fast) and m(medium) action. Medium is the slowest action and fast can in my opinion only be used for overhead casting(streamer fishing, seatrout fishing at the coast, ...). The fast action does not show good performance if you are a nymph fisher and have to do a lot of water casts(switches, underhand casts, ...). Therefore the mf works much better. That's why I prefer that action. If you fish on the coast - take the f, if you are fishing in very slow water where slow rod movements together with thin tippets are necessary - fish the m. The rod has an excellent price for the performance it shows!
LOOP LTS X1 10 ft. #6 (3 pieces)
Do you like nymph fishing for trout in large rivers? I do! If you like it too, you should try that rod. It shows excellent performance for all water casts and enables you to mend on long distance provided the line does support such mendings. This is my favourite rod if it comes to fishing our large rainbows that migrate up the Alpine River Rhine in autumn every year. I am waiting for the next run so my rod can show its great performance again!
LOOP LTS X1 9 ft. #6 (4 pieces)
I like this rod very much. Like with all Loop rods the feeling right up to the end of the flycasting stroke is brilliant. You do not loose control at any time. With many other rods you loose contact on the eve of the end of the casting stroke(something that not everyone can feel). The feeling is absolutely great if you use the LOOP Opti Stillwater(my favorite line) with the LTS X1. The control of the cast and the accuracy of the line in the air is excellent. The rod keeps the direction 100% no matter which cast you perform. The rod comes with two tip sections, so you are on the save side if it happens that you break your tip some day. I was using the rod for large rainbows in Kamchatka, too and when fishing for dollies I even landed sockeye with it without any problems although a #6 rod is usually not the one to go for salmon. Unfortunately this great rod is not built anymore at least not for the moment. Whenever you will see it in a shop, buy it! It is one of the best performing rods I have ever had in my hands.
LOOP Opti Stream 9,3 ft. #6 (4 pieces)
The Opti Stream is a very nice rod especially for the nymph fisherman who likes to have a little bit a longer rod for better mending possibilities. The Opti Stream makes this possible. As I often fish in fast water the reaction of the rod has to be fast, too. This means there is no time to be lost and so rods which need a long way of accelaration or take a long time to get a reaction cannot be used for such situations. The Opti Stream is a rod which can handle these situation without problems and it works really well with my Magic Switch and all roll cast combinations(Snake Roll, Snap-T, Snap-Z,..). The Opti rods are great rods to perform angulated casts. I use the Opti Stillwater line with it for all my nymph fishing activities.
LOOP Yellow line 9 ft. #5 (3 pieces)
This rod is a bit softer than the rods I was describing above. Fished with an Opti Stream fly line it provides a beginner with a great feeling for the correct timing. Especially a beginner will immediately find out what loading of the rod means and he will find it much easier to feel the stretching of the line at the back cast. This is very important for beginners because they usually do not watch their back very often. So the Loop Yellow line is a good rod for beginners and it is also less expensive than other Loop rods. For those who travel with their fly rod a 4 piece rod is maybe the better solution but beginners usually fish their home waters first before flying abroad for fishing and there is definitely no problem to get the rod into the boot of your car. And there is another good thing: You will find your rod much easier if you place it at a bush somewhere next to the banks and others will not step on it for sure.
LOOP Göran Andersson Signature Series 9,6 ft. # 4 (4 pieces)
This rod has a very special feeling which is typical for the GASSeries. # 4 rods do not need to be fast, but they have to make very accurate casts possible and have to load well without fast movements. If you use a lighter line and tinier flies what is the reason for that? You use them for spooky fish, cristall clear water and the feeling during the fight. Fast movements would spook the target fish. So you move slowly. Despite of the fact that the rod requires a slightly slower casting stroke it has enough power to cast a great distance. That is the secret of the GASS. I fish it with a #4 LOOP Opti Stream fly line.
LOOP Adventure 2 Set 9 ft., #6/#7/#8 (3 pieces) Euro 233.-
This set is just unbeatable what price-value relation is concerned. You will perhaps not get any other beginner set for such a price which gives you such a feeling for rod and line from the very beginning. The Adventure set is a true compact unit. It consists of a LOOP Adventure rod(3 pieces) with progressive action and comes together with an Evotec CLW reel, a LOOP fly line, backing, leader and is delivered in a cordura tube with integrated reel case. You might update it with a 3/6 Multi reel and gave a great set for less than Euro 300.-
LOOP Evotec Saltwater 9 ft. #10 and #12-13 (4 piece)
I like the new LOOP Evotec saltwater rods very much. The # 10 shows great action for jack crevalle, snook or permit and the #12-13 is a power stick that handles big tarpon without any compromise. The rods come in 4 pieces and are not expensive although you will hardly find anything better on the market. The x-grip is a great Loop invention for the salt and it improves the casting a lot. You always feel to have optimum control of the tracking even with heavy weight lines and big streamers which tend to twist many fly casters wrist during the cast so they loose the perfect tracking. Get this rod if you want to fish in saltwater for the really big ones!
LOOP Opti Power 890(#8, 9 ft. ) and 1090(#10, 9 ft.) (five pieces)
I used these rods for saltwater fishing on the Seychelles in spring this year. They have enormous power and enable you to cast a great distance even into the wind. They also have excellent fighting abilities and are easy to store in your bags because they come in 5 pieces. These rods should be your standard equipment when fishing for bones, permit or GT. I like them very much. They are also great for salmon fishing and I am sure I will take the class 8 with me for fishing Kamchatka again in autumn where a class 8 rod is the standard equipment.
LOOP Double Hand Rods
LOOP LTS Slingshot 15´#10-11
As a professional you meet a number of fly rods in your life. You test them and lay them aside. Some of them are good, some perform quite ok and some are not worth to even talk about because you have to do the work which they should do. But then there are also rods which you will always remember as they show excellent performance. Only very few manufacturers make such rods from time to time. LOOP belongs to them and the Slingshot is such a rod. It has a great action which bends the rod deep down towards the butt when loading it well and you can even cast the rod if you are not a good caster at all. It keeps the track and helps you to become a better caster. I use the 15´for big rivers but especially the 13,2` #9 is a rod which you will always remember. Use the LTS Pro Lines for them!
LOOP Göran Andersson Signature Series 12,6 ft. # 9 (4 pieces)
When I first casted this rod I knew that this rod is a very special one and I began to love it. I used it at many fly casting demonstrations because especially indoors there is often not too much space available. The roof is often quite low. So you might have seen me casting with a rod that was definitely shorter than 15 ft. That was the GASS 12,6ft. ! Besides the fact that it casts a great line and provides perfect line control it is a great rod for fishing for seatrout and if a salmon takes the fly the GASS 12,6 has got enough power to fight him without any problems. It just takes a bit more time. For getting very good performance you should choose a good line for it. I tested it in Kamchatka for silver salmon and therefore I used a Custom Float 2 (P) shooting head which I cut to 11,3 m (of course from the back side).
LOOP Göran Andersson Signature Series 11,6 ft. # 9 (4 pieces)
The Hucho fisher's choice! Allthough the 12,6`and the 11,6`are both #9 rods they have a completely different action. The 11,6´is much faster. If you like fishing for Danube salmon(Hucho hucho) then you should get this rod. Fish it with a short shooting head of max. 6-7m in length (some call it Skagit lines). It will bring your big flies down to the Hucho and iyou can fish it slow there. Do you think a #9 is too weak? Don't care, hucho are usually quite lazy fighters and only work with their body weight shaking their heads. The rod is strong enought to fight it !
LOOP LTS X1 14,6 ft. #10-11 (4 pieces)
The LOOP LTS X1 is my choice for large rivers. There are many good double hand rods in the LOOP product palette but every single fly caster "falls in love" with a rod which fits to his charakter. The X1 is just the rod I was looking for. It can cast a tremendous line and can also turn over heavy flies without any problems. It loads deep but nevertheless has got a fast progressive action. The line I can recommend is a Loop Opti Custom double hand #10-11 or an Opti adapted DH line.
Catching and landing big fish requires reliable equipment!
With LOOP products you will always be on the save side!
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