Pascanell wrote on May 24^th, 2013 at 10:20pm:


   Hmmm.......looks like someone had a little different experience.
To achieve the correct gravitational pull that such weapons deserve let me ask you a few questions.

*what do you feed your rods?
*How often do you speak soothing, kind and encouraging words to them?
*do your rods sleep in your bed or or they out in the garage?
*how often do you polish your rods (furniture polish works wonders)?

These questions and others like unto them provide vital clues as to why rods decide to leave home 

True story.......

Newell offshore reels are all graphite and I believe that helped quite a bit. The pelagic series rod has a hypolon grip and that probably helped as well. The kink in the offshore fiasco was that the reel was not engaged and when my Cuban friend snagged the line the combo was still in free spool. I thought all was still lost but he insisted that we pull the line in as fast as we could. Between the two of us pulling and very luckily no tide running I did get the combo back. I gave a very loud "thank you Lord" and then I squeezed the stuffing out of the Cuban fellow. The entire episode gained me some fame and I thought about getting a T-shirt made up...> "Yes, I'm the guy who threw his rod overboard"......... I cannot afford what I fish with and I certainly cannot afford to lose it.

The Loomis Muskie rod does indeed float and that with a fairly good sized bait caster attached. I suspect it is because the blank is so big it holds a lot of air. That and it has quite a bit of cork........very nice outfit to chuck big lures all day and not get wore out.

The other outfit was inside the boat I believe during my spill at Isle Royale. I can't remember for sure what rod it was but it stayed with me as well..........so did all my fishing tackle which was in an orvis pack and stuffed under my seat. Even my bailer which I have had since day one a decade ago stayed along for the ride as well. 

Who are you going to believe........some engineer types or the guy who it happened to? Don't believe me? That is your prerogative. 

BTW......I do suggest taking furniture polish to your rods (and so do the engineers at Loomis  ). They will shine up quite nicely and have a little protective coating. Also a little WD40 on a q-tip and apply at the base of your eyelets will help them last longer.

You are the Obi Wan of fishing....Have you ever fished without dumping all your gear in the water?

db wrote on May 26^th, 2013 at 6:31am:


Don't be silly......the spool, side plates (other than a stainless outer ring) and housing are all graphite making the Newells tops in lightweight and corrosion resistance. A common mistake amongst the Newell crowd is to not lubricate the gears in their reels.

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Thanks Pascanell for the Obi Wan reference. Certainly one of the "good guys" and on the right team. I like talking fishing and am transparent here.......how about you? Or do we have just another sharpshooter who hides behind a rock waiting for an opportunity for a snide remark?

Think what you want, rolled my boat once and some nitwit "helped" my stuff into the water.

You twice contested my comment that Loomis rods float going so far as to call Loomis (kinda weird if you ask me) and in essence calling me a fibber. Can't let that stand so we go your way and try to politely take the gloves off (or shall we say the light sabers on  ).

I had tried to steer the conversation towards a bit of humor if you remember correctly.

In any event yes I do have more high end fishing stuff than a man of my meager means should have but the point being, and as I have already attempted to make, that it is more fun IMO to fish with quality gear.

And I will repeat my previous stance that IMO the best value for an exceptional quality rod at a good price is St. Croix and not Loomis.

But I agree........I would prefer not to use my light saber to have to deflect cheap shots. Hopefully the stories provided were at least mildly interesting as the biggest miscue is to be boring (which I do try and avoid).

Hopefully the dustup is over and we can go back to talking about what you refer to as "catfish rods". One thing is certain, the catfish rods are all but indestructible which reminds me of another story........did I ever tell you about the time my canoe partner broke BOTH his rods in the little beaver pond leading to Jeff? Well it happened this way.............