Gary Loomis

Gary Loomis... Commonly known as G.Loomis.

It's a brand of fishing rod based in the USA.

The entire brand and production plant was bought over by the dreaded Shimano some time ago...

G.Loomis fishing rods are like the Ferrari of cars, Vertu of cellphones, Louis Vuitton of luggage bags, Ling of women, BoyBoy of dogs...

Of course there are also a couple of other brands out there like Fenwick and St Croix which falls into the same grade as G.Loomis...

But each has their own cult following...

I got my used G.Loomis model: IMX MBR 785C from someone in a fishing forum slightly more than a year ago.

It's the best rod I've ever had until today...

Exciting to fish with owing to it's high sensitivity level.

Excellent casting and lure control owing to it's fast action rod tip.

G.Loomis IMX MBR-785C

Although the IMX was introduced slightly over a decade ago, it remains in production today.

This shows how much sought after and proven this rod is.

Then, came the NRX...

With it's premium price tag for a fishing rod, one could have chosen to custom make a top quality rod at a lower price.

G.Loomis NRX 804C

Then, why didn't I custom make a rod instead?

Well... Because I'm a fanboy of their rods, that's why...

There's only one tackleshop in SG that parallel imports the NRX model.

Yesterday, one of the staff called me and asked whether am I still interested in the NRX as they are starting to consolidate their next order.
If yes, a deposit will have to be made by this week.
Shipment will arrive in about 2 - 3 months time if nothing goes wrong...

I told him that I'll think about it and will go make the deposit if I want it...

And yes I did... Think and think and think and think...

Price versus sanity...

I have always dreamed of getting a NRX even before I got the IMX...

Ling persuaded me to go ahead and buy it if I like it this much.

She said that I rarely spend money on myself these days...

Makes sense...

Perfectly ok to indulge in a little treat for myself since I have been a very good boy lately...

And so, I decided to go make the deposit today after work.

While at the office, I made a last ditch effort to search for a second hand NRX online.

There are only a handful of NRX owners in SG and even so, the majority of them are using the lighter poundage version of the NRX (12-16lbs).

What I wanted was the 14-20lbs model...

This fact made the search next to impossible...

Anyway, I went ahead and posted my search at a popular forum with the local fishing community.

My post in FishingKaki forum.

6pm came...

No response from the post...

Left the office and started to make my way to the tackleshop to place my deposit...

SMS came shortly after I stepped out of my office...

JACKPOT!!!!  WOOHOOOO!!!!!!  YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Called that guy and he asked for my offering price.

He agreed.

Arranged a viewing session immediately and rushed to his place at The Florida condo near Hougang.

Lady Luck is still stalking me!

Reached, examined the NRX, exchanged fishing tales, walked to Hougang Mall to meet Ling and Wanyu with my new rod in my hand.

Kopi session with Ling and Wanyu.

Share fishing stories.

Thomas came for Wanyu.

Me and Ling went home.



New Vs Old
NRX Vs IMX
Both vying for my reels's attention

I'm surprised at how light the NRX feels in my hands. Seems kinda fragile...

Makes me wonder whether is it truly as strong as it claimed...

Well, only time can tell...