At Le Mouching, we love Loop, for several years we even collaborated with them, until the brand changed hands. It’s true that these are extraordinary rods, but they really showed their full potential when you needed fairly stiff rods to fight big fish or make long casts. For example, I love my Loop Cross S1 rods for big rivers, and their saltwater series Cross S1 Flatsman was among the first to be offered in 11-weight line. But broadly speaking, Loop rods, even though they are extraordinary, were primarily developed for Scandinavia, Canada, or the Southern Hemisphere, where fish are bigger and more combative than here! And like all top-end rods, the budget required to acquire them was quite high — even if there was the Q series (I have a 9′ #10 rod and reel combo for pike that is fantastic) which was available at an accessible price.
And then there is THE news of the week — the TRAK series, which marks a turning point for Loop rods by making them accessible and opening up a new market with rods designed by Eoin Fairgrieve, in carbon fibre. When we say accessible, for example a 9-foot 4-weight costs 350$… Loop quality is there despite this accessible price. The range of rods is really wide: single-handed rods from a 10’6 in 2 or 3-weight!!! then from a 9′ 4-weight up to a 9-weight, all in 4 pieces. Then there are the two-handed rods, in 13 feet, 13 feet 2 and 14 feet in 7, 8 or 9-weight, also all in 4 pieces, all at 475$…
“I’ve been lucky enough to spend a lot of time with the new Loop Trak rods. Not just leading on the design but casting and fishing with them in the kind of wild places they were built for. With this level of performance at this price point, the Trak series really is phenomenal value.”
Eoin Fairgrieve – Head of Loop rod design –
Next time we test them and we’ll give you feedback!