If someone's got one of those machines where you pull on a rope and a big shoe kicks you in the butt, I'd like to borrow it for a while! I should have listened to the advice from this forum and custom build my own Salmon rod from a Rainshadow blank but no, I just had to have that new Gloomis spinning rod. It is so tip heavy I had to add a full 2 1/2 ozs of weight via an optional butt attachment - the extra weight doesn't make me real happy.

Although advertized "with Fuji Concept guides", like Tom had stated, they may not be spaced in accordance to Concept spacing. This STR1025S 8'6" rod has 7 Fuji guides, the last stripping guide 62 1/2" from the tip. But with my 4000 series Shimano, (which should be the normal reel size for this rod), the 25mm stripping guide is 23 1/2" from the spool face but should be placed an additional 5 1/2" further away based on how the Concept spacing lines up with my reel. That's 29" and is in the "acceptable range" for Saltwater spacing and may be correct for an 8 1/2' long rod.

And the next 14/15mm ?? guide needs to move 4 1/2" towards the tip, the next 10mm should be moved 3" closer to the tip and the next 8mm guide moved up 2" as well. The intersection guide would move up as well and it almost looks like one of the two 7mm running guides could be eliminated.

I'm not sure how much removing a guide near the tip section would improve the rod balance since all of the remaning guides would be moved further away from the fulcrum point of the rod. Gloomis said my warranty would be voided if I changed anything on the rod but the way I see it, a rod that handles perfectly with no warranty is better than a poor handling rod with a warranty - anyone agree?

Also, since my reel spool has a 50mm OD, conventiol thinking says to use a 25mm stripper. But wouldn't using a 30mm stripping guide that could be placed closer to the reel and the rod's fulcrum point and be in alignment with the Concept spacing be a better choice? I really think moving the reelseat a bit forward is the best way to solve the balance issue but Gloomis won't send me a replacement label. They say the logo is silkscreened on - maybe on their higher end rods but this GL2 looks like it has a decal on it to me. Any help would be appreciated. (I'll build my own from now on).

No, most factories that tout their rods as having the New Guide Concept System, don't actually have it. They just have the New Concept Guides. I doubt you'd find anybody at Loomis or at any other rod manufacturer that could really take a rod and set it up properly with the system. Keep in mind they're building for the masses and your rod will cast just fine as it is. No, it won't be optimum, but for the average user it would be plenty good enough.

Rather than dis-assemble that rod, why not sell it and build your own on the same blank model? Yes, the 30mm guide in high frame would allow you come back a bit towards the reel and might be the best avenue to take. It would not be too large for a reel with that spool diameter.

............

Tim,
A couple of years ago I was looking at buying a Loomis rod I couldn't get a blank for. I had a guide discount coming so I went looking. Loomis had changed to the New Concept guides from the Pac Bays my 20 year old rod had, but they were in the same spot on both. The one I was looking at also didn't use the fly guides on the tip section, just the concept spinning guides up on the tip. Mentioned it to the Loomis salesman and he said I was mistaken, till I pulled my rod out of the jeep and brought it in.
Seems to me they may have a fit and not honor a rod warranty if they could show you had caused a problem, but they would have to honor it as a blank warranty as they never specify cork, reelseat, or guide spacing under that. I'd do as Tom suggested if it's one of the matt finish rods as I have never had good luck getting all the telltale epoxy ring off. On some of my matt finish rods I removed the guides than removed the matt finish and reassembled with the concept system, they all have balanced much better. I left the butt wrap on them. They all now look like IMX, GLX rods from a distance. My concept measurements have always decreased guides sizes faster than Loomis did and that's where I saved weight, the GL3 PR8400 rod I have had to have an extra fly guide added to the mix to distribute right, still I like my configuration better as the stripper guide was two sizes smaller than the one supplied along with the rest decreasing also and much quicker.

Tim, if you bought that loomis down to cabela,s i would return it, i fished the river today and a diawa line counter reel acted up, it is going back in the am. They take anything back if you are not happy. Ps what is a fly guy doing with a spinning rod anyway. lol, John

Strip it and rebuild it! LOL!!!

Tim
Are they the " concept guides " or an all purpose guide. The concept ring is set higher to fit the line path better.
Spencer
As far as I know the Pac Bay spin guides are an " all purpose guide " lower then the Fuji concept.
The only ones I know who make a concept guide are Fuji, Titan - almost as high and now the new Forecast spin guides with the three frame support braces, not sure how high the ring sits, are the only concept I know of.

I build very few spinning rods but the few I built taught me quickly that the names of the guides and placement strategys need a rewrite of naming terminology. This cost me quite a bit by ordering stuff that I thought was correct that I just can not use. Try to match up Amtaks double foot casting guides with the V frame single foot guides in the Titanium Series, for a casting rod, and see how many extra guides you end up with in your guide boxes. Spinning guides need to be the right size and height out to the intersect guide from there on out the low "new concept" fly guides work nicely if put in the right place. The catalogs list the Alconites in "new concept" areas and the low frames double foot guides are really not intended for the spinning rod. Maybe someday someone will tackle naming components in a reasonable manner.

One thing abut this thread is certainly true - how in the devil do we compete with the marketing of the Gloomis (no typo) brand. Maybe someday someone will start a comotion over one of my rod stickers.

Gon

Double foot guides are made for casting or boat rods. The single foot guides such as the Fuji concept are made for the butt guide to the chock, then on out with single foot fly for light weight.
Most companies say you can use there guides but they are usually an all purpose ring height. There is a difference.
Also it depends on the reel angle for the path of the line.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2005 12:23AM by bill boettcher.

Bill,
Your right, the rod when I bought it years ago from Loomis had Pac Bay guides, they used Pac Bay and Wiebe for everything back then. They placed the same exact guides in the same exact place on a 0 power popping rod, as their 4 power rods. The rods had virtually the same balance, but the distribution was terrible with the faster ,lighter tip on the 8400. Changing to the Fuji concept guides as per the library article above allowed me to improve everything about that rod.

That's an " off the shelf rod " for ya. It still amazies me that people buy the high end fly rods with snake guides on them ?? Don't think I have ever used a snake guide. Maybe I should. It sells