Loomis GL3 vs. Xperience

[Grizzly]

Hello, All!

It's been a long time and my "tidalfish alarm" went off to remind me to check in.

I just returned from a quick trip to Louisiana where I was able to spend a day sightfishing for reds. It was a slow day but we found some fish and had a great time. It's not the time of year for the bulls but we caught fish from 5 to 10 lbs and I'll take them any day.

One casualty was my 4 Pc 8 wt GL3. It snapped in the third section (up from the handle) - a clean break during a cast. I had not struck the rod with lead eyes that day - but it may have been latent damage from a previous whack. I called Loomis and they said that the replacement rod would be an Xperience. Does anyone have any experience (no pun intended) with these rods? I've not cast them. Opinions are appreciated! Take the Xperience - or see if I can upgrade?

Regards,

Aaron

[Salty]

Although I've only test-casted the Experience, I think the action on the Experience is a little faster, the rod is little stiffer, overall its more crisp, and a little less forgiving than a GL3. Owning a GL3s and few GLXs, I would put the Experience somewhere in the middle action-wise, maybe close to what the old IMXs were.

If you could swing a 3-piece, the regular crosscurrent would be a good choice for a nominal upgrade fee. If your dead-set on another 4-piece I think you have to either take the Experience or make a pretty substantial jump to the GLX Crosscurrent or Native with a pretty big upgrade fee.

Guess it depends on how much you use it, travel, and whether or not its justified. My personal opinion- the Crosscurrent GLXs are the cat's meow.

Tight lines,

Salty

[Grizzly]

Salty - Thank you very much!!! When I talked with them, they said that they are currently trying to build up an inventory of rods so I'd be on a waiting list for an Experience, but she's requesting a regular crosscurrent for me.