Gorge Fly Shop Blog: josh linn

Mar 20, 2014

G.Loomis Pro4x Swings the Sandy River Skagit Style

Sandy River, Oregon

Wet, cold, foggy and high water are all indicators that it's time to swing the fly for native winter chrome! No one would say it is easy but the possible reward exceeds anything in freshwater and rivals many salt species. It's a demanding pursuit where your patience and faith are tested continuously and your equipment will reveal its every flaw.

Almost ready.

Quickly into the day your body thrives high on the oxygen rich environment of towering fir trees all adorned with old man's beard as the river winds its way through the basalt canyon formed from the lava flows of Mt. Hood. We are on the Sandy River in the Cascade mountain range in Oregon.

The Sandy River was originally named the Quick Sand River by Lewis and Clark. The loose sediment has been deposited by the many lahar flows from eruptions of Mt. Hood with the most recent being just over a couple centuries ago. Many of the river's banks are revealing the buried tree trunks from the last eruption all of which are cropped at the same height.

Buried tree trunks from the last eruption.

Josh Linn (Fly Fishing Sales Manager for G. Loomis) invited us to join him on this journey. Equipped with an arsenal of G.Loomis rods we set out on our pursuit. Fast water made for a quick drift boat ride downstream for a couple miles through a series of whitewater rapids. Few will dare run the bony swift waters of the Sandy in a drift boat but Josh has many years of guide experience on this river and enjoys the challenge. We rounded a bend to reveal a classic long perfect run to swing flies for steelhead.

Feels good in hand

As I finish my last sip of coffee Josh hands me one of his Pro4x rods and with a quick setup chat he sends me on my way. The rod is a Pro4x 7130 spey rod and this would be the first time I have cast this rod. From the moment I set up into a double spey I could feel the rod loading deep and smooth. I kept to that cadence as I came around and locked it into casting position and with a firm pull I let her rip. The 550gr Rio Skagit Max head shot forth with authority carrying its load of 12.5' of T-11 MOW tip and heavy weighted fly. A few more casts and I was starting to tune in to the relaxed but powerful swing of this rod.

Slow down, take your time and relax. Swinging flies for steelhead is not a sprint but more of a marathon instead. You need to keep doing what you're doing all day. Getting in a hurry is just going to wear you down and ultimately your patience with a good swing on your fly is diminished. The Pro4x loads deep in fact all the way down into the handle you can feel the rod blank flex. Fast action rods tend to cast off the tip and it feels good but if you're even a little off on timing they can respond a bit clunky especially with skagit heads. Never the case with the Pro4x. Every cast is a smooth transaction even when you know you hit it early or late. Slow doesn't equate to lack of power. Because it loads so deep into the blank it utilizes all that stored energy to launch the heavy skagit head, sink tip and weighted fly on its course.

Zero to 100 in .02 Seconds

Getting into the rhythm and working my way into the bucket of the run was an absolute pleasure with this rod. So relaxed I was completely taken by surprise when a hot winter Steelhead decided to blast my fly. Zero to 100 in .02 seconds is the best way I know how to describe the experience.

I'm not sure how to continue with this article...do I tell the truth about what happened or make up a lame story of the one that got away? I've never been one to make up stories.

I've never cared for these traditional style reels that many guys fish with. They all say "but they are so simple what can go wrong". Anything can go wrong and the extremes of steelheading will extract any weak link. The simple "nothing can go wrong" reel failed and seized causing an instant break off. I watched helplessly while a chrome bright winter steelhead jumped in midstream trying to shake the intrusion fixed to his lip. With one last jump I'm pretty sure he "flipped me the fin" as he rocketed upstream. Disappointed, yeah big time but I also know that any number of things can keep a fish from coming to hand. Sometimes you never know what happened. They just come unpinned and that can be the most frustrating. You'll lie awake at night wondering what went wrong. At least I know what failed although that provides little comfort at that moment.

Re-rigged we finished out the run and couldn't bring another fish to the fly. Water was on the rise so fast that I noticed the difference as I step through the same run on a second pass. Back in the boat we headed downstream and fished quite a few more runs only getting a couple non-committed pulls on our flies. We caught up with John Garrett and Sam Sickles who also were doing the same float from Dodge to Dabney. John had a couple grabs but nothing hooked up.

Wet, cold, foggy...Perfect!

After swinging the next run with no success we decided it was time to take turns casting the arsenal of equipment Josh had brought along. First an NRX 13' 8/9, what a cannon! Powerful fast rod that craves great timing but can give staggering results. I really liked the feel of the NRX 12' 5/6 Switch rod. Although called a switch rod I really view this as your compact summer spey rod capable of going from Scandi dry morning/evening work to skagit sink tip for mid day deeper runs. The 14' 6/7 NRX is a scandi dream rod with its fast taper and progressive loading.

Hopes of another chance at Winter Chrome

At the end of the day the Pro4x 13' 7 weight was my rod of choice for the slower, deeper loading of winter skagit sink tip work. The rod did all the work for me and was never tiring. Even when my cast was less than perfect the forgiving action made up for this enabling me to set up swing after swing for the hopes of another chance at Winter Chrome.

Greg Darling

Gorge Fly Shop Internet Sales Manager | Product Specialist

Sandy River Drift Boat Run
"Fly Fish the World with Us"

Mar 9, 2014

G. Loomis: Pro4x Spey Rods (a legend formed?)

Josh Linn: G. Loomis Pro4x catch

One of the things I really like about G Loomis is the idea of making actions specific to fishing applications. Skagit, Scandi, long belly we make them all. For winter fishing in Oregon or sink tip fishing in general the dredger rods are hard to beat and the 13'4" 7 wt is one of my all time favorite rods. A couple of years ago we introduced the NRX Spey rod in the 13' 7/8, it's an amazing rod and perfect for the PNW. When I started Spey casting I really liked or thought I liked fast action rods as my Spey casting has evolved just like my single hand casting I've decided I like all actions and I really like the right action for the job.

SCANDI
Scandi rods are typically more of a tip action rod, so when you make a cast you are just casting right off of the tip. A really short stroke with a crisp pull from the bottom hand creates tighter more aerodynamic loops. In the states we most often think of a Scandi line as a full floater made for casting small flies on long leaders.

SKAGIT
Skagit rods are typically softer rods that flex all of the way down into the handle. They load easier and cast heavier shorter lines with ease using a constant slower motion with a little longer stroke. When we were contemplating coming out with the pro4x line of rods I wanted more of an all around rod that would be able to cast a skagit and a Scandi with ease. Something that loads easily and cast from deep down in the rod. I didn't want to make another NRX 13' 7/8 we already had that. I wanted the rod to be very easy to cast yet still be a performer.

G. Loomis Pro4x 7130-4 Spey Rod - 13' 7/8 Weight

"Cheese"

One day in February Steve Rajeff called me and said the first round of new pro4x Spey rods were ready to try. I met Steve Rajeff and Steve Choate on a river near the factory. We brought tons and tons of lines to try Scandi and Skagits,in all makes, sizes, and lengths, from airflo, rio, and SA. Mentally I had an idea of how I wanted all of the rods to cast. 14' and 15' should be more suited for a long belly line. The 13' 7 & 8 should be more of a medium action rod capable of casting skagit and Scandi lines. We tested the 14 and 15, figured out the little changes we needed to make and moved on to the two 13' rods. Both rods were amazing especially for being the first generation but they were not what we wanted. They were great Scandi rods and would probably sell amazingly well in Europe. But that's not what we wanted. We wanted more of a mid flex rod. One that would be easy to cast, that would load into the butt of the rod and that I could hit as hard as I wanted and it would just load deeper and deeper.

Steve Choate and I were on the same page. Steve Choate and Brian O'keefe really helped me to understand and develop my Spey casting. The funny thing is that Brian doesn't even Spey cast, but I did pick up some ideas and concepts from watching him distance cast. The first time I fished with Choate really made me rethink what I was doing. He is an amazing caster and showed me what was possible with a Spey rod. After being with those two guys my Spey casting really started to evolve. I started to break down concepts and redesign them. Steve and I fish mostly the same rods with very similar lines and cast in a similar manner. One thing we both do is hit it about as hard as possible and come over the top in a straight line. This allows for a good positive turn over with a lot of power.

We explained to Steve Rajeff what we wanted, stiffen the tip so that it will flex a little deeper in the rod and smooth out the middle so it flexes a little more evenly. He totally understood what we were looking for. A few weeks later Steve called us up again. The new rods are ready. We met up on the river again there were two sets of rods, the new ones and the original ones, so we could compare and see if the changes we wanted had been made. I was most excited for the 13' 7/8 as that would be my daily fishing rod. We use high quality graphite, Fuji guides, and the best cork available, we just wrap it up in a price tag that is affordable.

We started testing the second round of rods.

Everything was good and the changes were spot on. We got to the 13' 7/8. It was great. Loaded deeper into the blank, it had a stiffer tip. Just what I wanted. I fished those prototype rods throughout the rest of the winter. Caught a fair amount of fish on them. They were easy to cast and worked well. But they were still just prototypes. Shortly after that I got the first couple to come off of the production line. Winter fishing was over and Deschutes summer steelhead was beginning. I was extremely excited to have a finished product in my hand. When we tested the rod we cast a Scandi line around 430-440. I truly like the rio Scandi lines and fish the 435 on that rod. Talk about easy, I could easily cast and cover as much water as I wanted. Nothing was off limits. I put that rod in tons of people's hands and everyone loved it. Part of that may be that the rod is a point of pride for me. I have worked with many companies casting and testing new rods but this was different. This was my rod. This was exactly what I wanted. It cast the size of lines I think a 7wt should and it does it easily.

C.P.R: Catch. Photo. Release

As fall progressed I had a trip scheduled to BC. I took 3 of these rods with me so that anyone in our party could use it. I was like a proud parent. Everyone should own at least two of these! We mostly fished sink tips on that trip I loaded the rods with the new rio skagit max 550. What an amazing outfit, any fly any tip, just let it rip. I still gravitate to this rod everyday I'm on the water. This is definitely my go to rod. I am still blown away that one of my favorite rods is our price point rod. But that actually says a lot about our products. When we build something inexpensive it's not just cheap crap. All of our pro4x rods are killer and I find myself using them everywhere I go.