jayL
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2007
- Messages
- 9,947
I feel I owe a review or two on some of the gear I took on my trip.
I'll start with a short rundown of what I took two years ago...
For my first trip out west, I took an 8.5' 5wt orvis TLS power matrix mid flex and a loomis gl3 9'5wt. The orvis was paired with an okuma sierra, and the gl3 with a cabela's prestige plus.
I was vastly, vastly underprepared.
For starters, the orvis was a wonderful rod for most PA applications. To date, I've caught my largest trout with this rod, and I was using the cheap okuma with it. Said trout came from spring creek, and I was able to easily handle him.
The loomis was my first and only self-built rod, and performed *very* well out there. The name of the game on the bighorn is water hauling two flies, shot, and a large indicator with at least 30 feet of line out, and it did that well. The prestige plus performed subpar, but got the job done. That reel was later fried by my second largest PA trout (fly-caught, anyway) at the jamboree a few years back, when a fantastic specimen of a brown trout ate my GD nymph on penns.
I determined that I would not let myself return to Montana without proper gear. I accomplished that, and I didn't necessarily have top of the line stuff. Well, I had SOME top of the line stuff, but I also had some stuff that cost me pennies, at least relatively speaking.
I took three setups.
1. 9'5wt Orvis hydros tip flex with hydros reel. Just to feel special, I have a sharkskin on this rig, and openly and lamely refer to it as my maserati. I think it goes without saying that this rig was fine. I'd like two more of them, thanks.
2. 9'5wt Scott A2 paired with a TFO MKII reel. Gary and I colluded at one point, and this reel fell into my hands. This reel is beautiful. Is it functional? Adequately so. It's got a rudimentary drag, but it works. I landed a few very large trout on this reel, and never felt as though I needed more. The rod was won in a raffle at the catskill jam last year. Yes, you should go to the jams, and you should contribute money to the raffle. Look how it worked for me! I ended up in Montana!!! :lol:
Anyway, the rod has a touch less to it than the loomis, but executed the afore-mentioned water hauls well. I made this setup my nymph rig, and it performed well. I'd take it out there again. In fact, I WILL take it out there again.
3. 9'6wt loomis gl3 paired with an allen alpha 5/6.
First of all, thank you Mariner. This rod came with Alaska and Colorado baggage tags on it, like you mentioned, so was obviously used on trips before. I made it my streamer rod, and probably put it through more stress than the other two combined. It performed absolutely flawlessly. If you aren't aware, Mariner and I struck a deal at the jamboree for this rod. This is yet another friendly reminder to participate in this community, because good things happen, even to marginally less than good people such as myself. I scored an excellent deal with this rod, and used the hell out of it.
The belle of the ball on this trip was the allen alpha that was paired with the streamer rod.
I've aired my criticisms of this reel. It flat out didn't work when I got it, due to a manufacturing problem. Justin explained the nature of the problem, offered to fix it, and the freaking thing flat out balls. The drag adjustment is not as smooth as the expensive hydros, and it doesn't feel quite as sturdy, but one could buy like four of them for the price of one hydros, and Allen stands behind the product.
I landed multiple 20+" fish on this rig. I locked the reel down and forgot about touching the spool while damn near busting the rod on large fish. I let off a bit on the drag and let the fish run. It worked just fine in either situation. I am absolutely happy with its performance. It exceeded expectations.
I still am anxious to see how one of these reels stacks up against a king salmon, because there are plenty of great reels out there that just can't handle it. Given my experience with taking this reel to montana, I think it would do just fine, and I am considering buying one for my salmon stick, just because my old loomis venture is probably nearing the end of its run.
I'll start with a short rundown of what I took two years ago...
For my first trip out west, I took an 8.5' 5wt orvis TLS power matrix mid flex and a loomis gl3 9'5wt. The orvis was paired with an okuma sierra, and the gl3 with a cabela's prestige plus.
I was vastly, vastly underprepared.
For starters, the orvis was a wonderful rod for most PA applications. To date, I've caught my largest trout with this rod, and I was using the cheap okuma with it. Said trout came from spring creek, and I was able to easily handle him.
The loomis was my first and only self-built rod, and performed *very* well out there. The name of the game on the bighorn is water hauling two flies, shot, and a large indicator with at least 30 feet of line out, and it did that well. The prestige plus performed subpar, but got the job done. That reel was later fried by my second largest PA trout (fly-caught, anyway) at the jamboree a few years back, when a fantastic specimen of a brown trout ate my GD nymph on penns.
I determined that I would not let myself return to Montana without proper gear. I accomplished that, and I didn't necessarily have top of the line stuff. Well, I had SOME top of the line stuff, but I also had some stuff that cost me pennies, at least relatively speaking.
I took three setups.
1. 9'5wt Orvis hydros tip flex with hydros reel. Just to feel special, I have a sharkskin on this rig, and openly and lamely refer to it as my maserati. I think it goes without saying that this rig was fine. I'd like two more of them, thanks.
2. 9'5wt Scott A2 paired with a TFO MKII reel. Gary and I colluded at one point, and this reel fell into my hands. This reel is beautiful. Is it functional? Adequately so. It's got a rudimentary drag, but it works. I landed a few very large trout on this reel, and never felt as though I needed more. The rod was won in a raffle at the catskill jam last year. Yes, you should go to the jams, and you should contribute money to the raffle. Look how it worked for me! I ended up in Montana!!! :lol:
Anyway, the rod has a touch less to it than the loomis, but executed the afore-mentioned water hauls well. I made this setup my nymph rig, and it performed well. I'd take it out there again. In fact, I WILL take it out there again.
3. 9'6wt loomis gl3 paired with an allen alpha 5/6.
First of all, thank you Mariner. This rod came with Alaska and Colorado baggage tags on it, like you mentioned, so was obviously used on trips before. I made it my streamer rod, and probably put it through more stress than the other two combined. It performed absolutely flawlessly. If you aren't aware, Mariner and I struck a deal at the jamboree for this rod. This is yet another friendly reminder to participate in this community, because good things happen, even to marginally less than good people such as myself. I scored an excellent deal with this rod, and used the hell out of it.
The belle of the ball on this trip was the allen alpha that was paired with the streamer rod.
I've aired my criticisms of this reel. It flat out didn't work when I got it, due to a manufacturing problem. Justin explained the nature of the problem, offered to fix it, and the freaking thing flat out balls. The drag adjustment is not as smooth as the expensive hydros, and it doesn't feel quite as sturdy, but one could buy like four of them for the price of one hydros, and Allen stands behind the product.
I landed multiple 20+" fish on this rig. I locked the reel down and forgot about touching the spool while damn near busting the rod on large fish. I let off a bit on the drag and let the fish run. It worked just fine in either situation. I am absolutely happy with its performance. It exceeded expectations.
I still am anxious to see how one of these reels stacks up against a king salmon, because there are plenty of great reels out there that just can't handle it. Given my experience with taking this reel to montana, I think it would do just fine, and I am considering buying one for my salmon stick, just because my old loomis venture is probably nearing the end of its run.
