A few years ago I went thru a spell where I was losing about every other fish I hooked into with a crankbait. The fish were on a strong crankbait bite but they were jumping or pulling off at an alarming rate. This was a time before I had discovered Mustad Triple Grip Hooks, which would have helped solve this problem, so the solution I came up with was a change in rods.

I was talking to a good friend of mine, Matt Lampe, about this problem and he suggested I try his
7'- 0" Medium action G-Loomis Crankbait Series rod and see if it didn't help. Matt is one of the best crankbait fishermen I know and he raved about it so I gave it a shot and sure enough that was the ticket.

I was one of those guys who thought I needed to be fishing with a glass crankbait rod. I had given into the theory that many other crankbait fishermen had, that graphite's too stiff and too quick to react. I was afraid that graphite wouldn't let the fish inhale the lure and if they did I'd end up ripping the hooks loose. Every thing you read from the "big" crankbait fishermen said, "Glass was the way to go for crankbaits."

They were sort of right. Fiberglass is heavy, it feels dead, but its softer, slower action often made it a better choice for fishing crankbaits. That was until G-Loomis came out with their Crankbait Series rods. The G-Loomis Crankbait Series rods incorporate all the elements of the best fiberglass crankbait rods, but with all the added benefits of graphite.

These rods have a soft, slow action that allows your lure to work perfectly and allows the fish to inhale the bait. But unlike fiberglass rods, they're incredibly light, super responsive and extremely sensitive. Their reduced weight makes them far less tiring to cast. Their sensitivity offers a huge advantage fishing swimming or suspending baits that bass engulf at rest. I also found I was "hanging up" less do to the increased sensitivity of these rods. No longer was I setting the hook on brush and rocks. You can easily tell a fish from a possible snag. Their ability to respond instantly keeps the line tight when a fish jumps or makes a sudden dive under the boat. In other words, you gain all the advantages of graphite with the action of glass.

Each rod in the series is crafted with a special, high-performance graphite that gives them extra durability and flexibility, and each features a metallic copper finish that has a very nice look. These are truly state-of-the-art crankbait rods.

Don't let the name "crankbait rod" fool you though. I use both the 7'- 0" and 7'- 6" models for many patterns other than crankbaits. The 7'- 0" model is perfect for top water baits, suspended jerkbaits, small spinnerbaits, flukes as well as small crankbaits. Any of you guy's who throw flukes, know how hard it can be to throw them in the wind. Not with this rod. You can really "send" the fluke with these rods and still feel the bite and get a good hook set.

The 7'- 6" model is my choice for buzzbaits, rattle traps, spooks, big crankbaits and big spinnerbaits on windy points. You better have a high capacity reel though because you're not going to believe how far these suckers cast. I'll bet you can cast a spook close to 100 yards and I'm not exaggerating. You just have to feel how these rods load up and release to believe it.

These rods are a little pricey ($180 -$200), but many other rod manufacturers have lesser quality rods in this same price range. When the big bass you just lost cost you 5-times that much, they don't seem like that bad of an investment. It's funny how your views change as you watch that pig swim away with your paycheck, isn't it? I'm not saying I don't loose fish anymore, because occasionally I do. But I will say it's very rare and I credit these rods with a lot of my increased landing rate.