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Getting "Shaky" G. Loomis Style


If it weren't for the big bait craze sweeping across bass fishing country, the current "in" technique could very well be jighead fishing, or to use the more current vernacular, shaky head fishing. More active a presentation than dropshotting, shaky head fishing is still considered a finesse technique. As such, it is primarily fished on light line and spinning tackle. G.Loomis introduced a line of rods to specifically address this technique. We've been fishing one of these rods over the last year and are finally ready to share with you, our review of this stick. Introducing the G.Loomis SHR821S ShakyHead Stick.

The SHR821S comes equipped with a full line of Fuji components. The blank itself is a blend G.Loomis's GL3 and IMX graphites, and of course, it features a full rear grip and foregrip of a high grade cork. There are also some compressed cork details on the rear grip that change up the look slightly, but certainly not significantly, and unfortunately there were some minor alignment issues between all the different materials in the grip of our review specimen. The reel seat was also a tad difficult as I had to really torque the feet of my reels to get them to slide into the seat and sit properly so that I could tighten them down onto the rod. If you're one to match up a rod and reel and leave them paired indefinitely, this is a minor issue. If you, like me, break down your combos after every trip, this can grow to be a bit annoying every time you slide a new reel onto the rod.

G.Loomis just recently introduced two new rods for this lineup at ICAST 2008, a GLX spinning rod and a casting version of the existing two power rod to bring the total in this line to four sticks. From the original lineup are the SHR821S, reviewed here, and the slightly more powerful SHR822S. These sticks feature a brown blank, light brown graphics, and Fuji Alconite guides.

More important, of course, was how this stick felt out on the water and to test that aspect, we paired it with a couple of different reels over the course of the past year. The two most common pairings were with a Daiwa Certate 2000 or a Daiwa Exist 2004.

Given our recent Swimbait Rod Wars activity, spinning rods simply do not make it out onto the boat very often anymore, but when it's time to go finesse, and yes, I consider shaky head fishing a finesse technique, spinning rods can be a blast to fish with. The G.Loomis SHR821S is no exception. No, it's not as glamorous as a GLX, although that option is now available in this series! And no, it's not as stylistic as my Enthusiast rods, but it is a very solid stick with a fantastic taper and one I can highly recommend if your game is shaky heads.


Reviewed by MyOutdoorTV Staff