John,
You are going to get a ton of advice / opinions on this topic....so here's one more. :-D
I'm not familiar with the Loomis you have and if it was built prior to the glx models, that's several years back. I'm going to guess a majority of rods out there will be faster than yours so be careful what you wish for. I got a sage tcx a few years back. It was awful at distances less than 50' so it wasn't a practical rod to have.
$800 budget means that just about any rod on the market is in play.
I personally like a fast rod with a softer tip. 90-95% of my fishing is on the same river. For dries, I use a St Croix Elite 9' 5wt, Sage Z-axis 9' 5wt or a 1995 Sage RPL+ 9' 6wt that I load with Rio gold 5 line. I have a VXP that just finished being built, Redington CPX 10' 5wt and St Croix Ultra 9' 6 wt. All see some use during t he season but the Legend Elite is my favorite and they sell for $440-$460. The CPX is my rod for fishing indi rigs. I like it and wish they still made it. Many people claimed it was one of the worst rods they ever made. Go figure.
So with your budget, knowing where you are going to use it, I'll recommend you cast these:
Orvis Helios (try both tip & mid flex) Caddis let me use his 9' 5wt tip flex up there and I thought it was very light, fast and capable of long casts. If the rod lacked, it was in close casting but you can't get everything in one stick. $700+
Echo 3. Again, Caddis let me cast it and he wanted my opinion. The 9' 6wt he had felt heavy, stiff top to bottom and unbalanced in comparison to the Helios. I read that they actually perform much better with one line heavier on them. Echo makes tough rods too. $350-400
I also used a Scott G2 up there for a day. I don't believe it's a good all arounder for up there. Slower action softer mid/butt section. With that said, this probably the best feeling rod I've ever cast.
Scott S4 which you can find on closeout for $500 or less. Waaay different than G2. The ol 'shop wiggle' won't tell you much. Felt a little wobbly to me. Load it with line and you can feel the backbone and crisp action. It's a cannon and GPX or Rio Grand line may be needed on it.
Sage one. You're lucky because Shane wouldn't let me try his. I'll imagine it's sweet and pretty close to Helios in price, performance and popularity.
TFO Axiom 5wt is a fast action rod for $275-300. Don't overlook it but don't buy it without a demo cast or two. Not everyone's cup of tea.
Don't look past the St Croix legend elite. Good price point and great performance. You are welcome to demo any of mine.
Never been a fan of Loomis rods so I can't help you there. Maybe jdaddy will jump in with a Winston review. I think he's cast or owned every model they've made over the last 6-8 years.
