Bantam1

Check your guides on the rod to make sure there are no cuts or chips. Rocks can fray braided line. This is because braided line is typically thinner diameter it will feel the effects of sharp rocks much quicker than mono or FC in some situations.

Swimbaits and bigger swimbaits

Get a small pair of round needle nose pliers. You can cut the loop part off which will shorten the wire a whopping 1/8" or so. Slide the clevis and blade off, amke your change and bend the wire back around in a loop using the pliers.

OK lets clear up the pricing and lack of spare spool with the Stradic CI4. First you can see the appearance difference between these spools. There is more machine work involved in the CI4 spool. It is drilled, chamferred and anodized with a two tone finish. This is more labor intensive and requires more finish work than the Stradic FI spool. It has all the same features of the FI model but much lighter. The price of carbon has been going up every year as well which helps dictate the cost of the reel. The pricing on the CI4 is based on the current dollar conversion. The FI model was based on the conversion in mid 2007. I can say we have absorbed a lot of the cost changes to maintain the MSRP on the reel from when it was introduced. Many of our products had in increase in price because of the poor economy and weak dollar. I'm pretty sure any new models will no longer come with a spare spool unless the dollar gains strength again. Now we have Obama in office so maybe his stimulus plan will help us include spare spools in the future :

My suggestion is find a local gun range that offers rentals. Shoot a bunch and see what feels best in your hands. There are lots of great brands out there and many have been mentioned. Glock, HK, Sig, Springfield, etc; Personally I would go with a .40 or maybe a revolver in 38 special or .357. I'm a .45 guy but they tend to be larger frames and have more recoil with some exceptions.

Ask on Allcoast.com. Its a local saltwater site.

Maybe the rod you are using is not correct for the application? It might be too heavy and not loading properly to get that good cast. I bet you are trying to force it to cast further and this is why you are backlashing. Typically 3-4 break weights is more than enough breaking to allow for a long cast and not backlash with the Citica.

This is my good buddy Matt Peters who is a transplant from So-Cal. He has figured out the swimbait deal in your neck of the woods. Look as see what he has to say on his website and blogs: www.southernswimbait.com

Redsyn- The warranty procedure will reamin exactly the same as it is right now. The rods will need to be shipped to GLoomis in WA. We are not going to handle warranty replacements at our location in Irvine. This could change in the future but from what I have been told they want to keep it in WA. As far as an upgrade program I do not think this will happen.

Yes I am glad Carey is back. He is a great person and does a fantastic job with sales. I was told there will be no pricing changes unless cost of materials rises again. I know one of the carbon suppliers makes some material exclusively for GLoomis since there was no use for it in the aerospace industry. They could decide to raise the pricing or stop making it at any point. Lets hope that doesn't happen.

Try fishing at night. Just think when its super hot outside do you want to do anything? When it cools off you will typically be more active too...

OK you got me on the National Sales Manager. I believe Jim Lebson was in charge, but I could be mistaken. Jim Lebson has stepped into the role of Executive Director; Steve Rajeff G.Loomis' world-class fly, spin and casting rod expert and rod designer, leads the engineering department; Willie Cates continues as Director of Manufacturing; Lisa Cates remains Director of Operations; Bruce Holt has a new role in brand communications and product development. We will be handling sales, marketing and customer service. Chris Hess was the marketing manager at GLoomis and now he is here at Shimano as the marketing manager for all of our brands. Carey Graves is our NSM and he will be in charge of sales for Loomis. Brian Nolte will be in charge of customer service.

Management at Loomis will not change. The same people will still be in charge. Now they may have some influence from our management, but nothing drastic. It will be more focused at being innovative again and not changing what they currently produce. Most of the changes in the near future will be aimed at increasing production and improving quality.

Well we are going to work that out with the owner of the site. My boss needs to speak with him and get things rolling. I plan to have Shimano, Power Pro and GLoomis all the same forum. I have it this way on a few sites right now. For now you can post questions on this forum or the Shimano forum unless the moderators say otherwise.

I will be helping out with all Loomis related topics from now on. The same is also true for Power Pro. Pretty soon my work shirt is going to look like a professional bass anglers shirt. With all the companies I work with now it will look like I'm sponsored ;D

We have owned the company since 1997 and no changes have been made to the way they do business, build rods or design rods. There are some changes starting at the end of this year. The one affecting you most will be customer service. Shimano will start handling customer service related issues starting soon. I do not have an official date because one has not been set yet. As of right now lets say December 1, 2009, maybe earlier. Nothing will change as far as the Xpeditor Service program or warranty programs. Everything will remain the same as far as warranty processes are concerned. There have been some rumors flying around that we will be taking GLoomis overseas for production. This is not true at all. We have no intentions of changing what Loomis does or taking production to our factories. GLoomis will continue to build high tech rods at the factory in Woodland, WA. They want to focus on being a manufacturer and develop rods as they have done since 1985. GLoomis is a rod factory focused on building high performance rods. This will be the only factory to produce GLoomis rods for both the US and internationally. With Shimano taking over all aspects of sales, marketing and customer service this allows for some growth and has allowed time for improved qualtiy training at the factory. With our assistance in these areas GLoomis has been able to update the manufacturing process and develop more efficient production processes. This means that they will be able to increase production with an even higher level of quality than before.

There is a difference between the warranty and the Xpeditor service. The XPeditor is $50 no questions asked. You ship your rod back in the provided tube with the provided shipping label within 30 days. If you do not ship it back within 30 days they will charge you full MSRP for the rod. This is the best option if the rod broke say shutting it in the car door or in your tail gate. You can also send the rod in for warranty repair. Typically this is free with the only cost to you being shipping to WA. They can deem that the rod broke by non fishing related conditions and possibly charge you. From what I understand they rarely charge for warranty repair or replacement. GLoomis has done extensive testing on rod blanks to understadn how and why they break. They can tell which way the rod was bent when it broke, how it broke and if it was a legitimate failure or not.

I'm not an expert on the competition but I know Shimano Japan offers models like the one with the super shallow spool. Its made for shallow water rockfish applications with light PE (braided) line such as 10-20 pound. Capacity is not that important because they are fishing 50 feet or less typically.

I was there about a month ago. There was a really bad algea bloom but the fishing was good. Tell him to bring jigs and finesse stuff. There might be a reaction bite on wind swept banks too.

I'm trying to copy a jig head that was given to me. Its from Japan and its hard to get, and at $15 each its not worth it to buy. I just want to make a mold of it and pour a few more for testing. Eventually I plan to get an aluminum mold cut, but I want to test it more before I spend the extra $$.

Everyone is going to have a different opinion. It all varies by the local water we all fish. I crank with FC, topwater on mono, braid for frogs and maybe flipping/pitching depending on water color/visibility. Typically people use FC for jigs/worms or any down baits. Mono for reaction baits and braid for the thick stuff like grass and timber. YMMV

Its a good crank for cover like mud and small gravel. The benefit is using it for the deeper suspended fish.

Thanks Matt!

I was curious if any of you use silicone for molds to pour lead? Its going to be low production. I know silicone can handle a lot of heat, but I'm not 100% sure about using it over and over. If not what should I use?

I crank with FC. It has a little stretch and the baits go a little deeper. You want some stretch to absorb the shock. You can use a short leader with the braided line, but its all going to make noise going through the guides. It should have a little less noise once the line breaks in.