I have some money burning a hole in my pocket and I have a question for all the float fishers out there. I have been fishing floats with an 8'6 Loomis 1025C and it has worked all right, but I wat to get a 10'6 to make life a little easier on the river. I definitely want a casting rod for this, and have 4 possibilities:
Loomis 1263C- 301.00
Lamiglas X106MCT- 270.00
StCroix WC106M2- 135.00
AllStar ESH1263BC-2- ? but cheaper

Which in your opinion is the best rod? If it is the Loomis or Lami, are those 2 worth 2X the money? I love my GL3 1025, but with the floats, is the extra sensitivity all that necessary? Please help.
Thanks

I'd go with the Loomis if your going with a casting rod. You may also want to us it to drift fish some day so the extra money will be well spent.

I fish the lamiglas above and paid about $120 for it. Try e-bay, or the lamiglas outlet (where they make them) in Woodland, WA.


It finally stoped raining. hooray

I was recently in the market for a float rod and wasn't to sure on which one to get. The GL3 is a great rod as is the Dave Vedder model from Lamiglas. But I would strongly suggest looking at ALL-STAR rods, they are very very sensitive and come with a life time guarantee. if you are looking for a 10'6" rated 8-12 go with the
ALL-STAR 1284C.
just my .02

P.S. thanks Mark and RT for all those jigs...I cant wait to use them. Q? why is the hackle or feathers so short?

You might want to be careful about the Loomis blank. I was just at Schoff's tackle, and the have quit carrying Loomis blanks. The fellow there said that they were seeing poorer quality in the blanks since Shimano bought the company.

I just built a bobber rod from an anglers workshop blank, their 9 1/2 foot model. I like it a lot. They also carry the lamiglas blanks. 360-225-9445. It's bad that I can type that number from memory.

I have the Lamiglas 10-6 Cert Pro for 6 to 10 lb line in spinning. I love it! It's got plenty of backbone for setting the hook >100 feet, yet it has a soft tip which makes casting a small jig and float easy. I've taken over 100 steelhead up to 22 pounds with it and have only felt underpowered with a few fish in the 16 lb and over catagory. It comes in casting also if you prefer. I think I paid $180 for it 4 years ago.
Dave Vedder was right. The extra length of a 10-6 makes a huge distance when float fishing unless you're on little creeks. I bet you'll do well with any of those rods.
Good luck!

i've been e-mailing back and forth with thcustomrods.sounds like he has a great product with good prices,i would check him out before you go buy a loomis rod. thcustomrods scott

I have the same 10'6" Lami Certified Pro, only in casting configuration. It was $135 as I recall. It seemed tip-heavy (as are all the 10-footers I guess), but a stack of quarters and Dip-It solved that. Fishes very well.

Go with the Cert Pro Lami
I've got the 9'6" med. model in spinning
It works great drifting casting spinners
and as a float rod but the 10'6" should be better for keeping the line out of the water and mending.
Also it definitly will have plenty of backbone

OCUS
one more thing,
thats the retail price your looking at
check out Sportco, they should have that rod cheaper
got my 9'6 for 180 full price was 240

I have the St. Croix rod (2 of them), while they are nice rods, they are a bit heavy to fish with on long days. I do like them as downrigger rods though.
I am currently planning on purchasing the Vedder model 10'6" float rod by Lamiglass, I own six other rods by Lamiglass and think they are great.

I buy a rod every other season or so; this spring it was time to buy a float rod, so I did. Before that I did all my bobber fishing with a crappy 8'6" baitcaster and it worked fine. Now I use a crappy 10'6" float rod and it works fine, too. I mean, it's not like a float rod needs to be built for sensitivity. Or speed. It just needs to be long and light, and able to load up.

I don't have a lot of money to toss around so I picked up a 10'6" Shimano rod at a GI Joe's in Eugene when I visited some friends this summer. It was $79.99. I love it. I've fished a couple of buddies' Loomis and Lami float rods and frankly still can't justify the $120 difference. and I say this even though I love my Loomis 8wt fly rod...

I use a carbon microfilament line (Power Pro) and mending that setup is a dream, as is keeping line off the water and controlling a drift.

I know the elitist crwds will tell you you need to consume the hot brand-name product to be a part of the elite fishing clique, but spending hundreds of dollars really isn't necessary. Sure, a lousy craftsman always blames his tools, but fancy tools don't make a better craftsman.

I use Dave Vedder's signiture rod. It's 10.5 feet for 8 - 12 lb lines. I love it.

I disagree with fishkisser99 about sensitivity in a float rod. I have used a Loomis STR 1265 and am currently using a rainshadow 1264. With both rods I have felt chinook munching eggs before the float even moves. You won't get that with cheaper rods. Sometimes with fussy biters your float will never go down the short time your presentation is in the fishes mouth. The Loomis 1265 and rainshadow 1264 both have quite a bit of backbone but I feel you need that in order to get a good hookset. It can be the difference between landing the fish and only seeing it shake it's head a few times before you loose it. I love my rainshadow and you can have one custom built for less then the cost of the Vedder Lami.

Beezer

I have built and fish a 10'6" float rod on a rainshadow blank (manufactured by allstar) and it is a very good rod I have a 9'6" lamiglass and I preffer the rainshadow. I would go with an allstar or a rainshadow they are cheaper and from my experience equall in quallity.
just my .02

I would go with a Rainshadow blank. Higher end graphite, light, sensitive and very afforadable.
Rainshadow blanks are manufacture in the All-Star plant but are not the same blank...

TH

www.thcustomrods.com

I'm glad to see someone else has tried the 1265. I was afraid it might be too much rod, but I picked up one up because I wanted a 10.5 footer in a spinning rod with some backbone for float fishing chums. Of course I used it once then trashed my knee, so next year it'll get broken in.

I figured it would be a little much for steelies, but would suffice until I have the money to pick up a rod for every friggin' application that you guys here come can up with.

skywalker, you will love Loomis STR 1265; that rod is the rod of "choice" up in B.C. with DFO for marking spring chinook with floats/roe on a trib of the Thompson. These fish are chum sized fish however they need a good "stickin" when you pull the trigger. The Loomis STR 1265 or similar rated competitors with equal line rating/graphite modulas have enough back bone and will give you the hook-up you need. When you go to the "wimpy" Certified Pro Lami or Loomis STR 1261 rods for example your hook-up to landing ratio diminishes. If you want a head shake/long line release get the wimpy rods, the ones with more back bone are long enough to give you a good hookset and are long enough to give you all the visual pleasure display/control from the fish you need. This is especially important if you are going to release the fish.

Beezer

The 1265 is good
but the 1264 is better 10'6 8-17# a bit lighter than the 1264.. IMO a better steelhead rod. Right Major Brown?

TH

www.thcustomrods.com

Beezer, so far I've only discovered one thing, much to my liking.....mending a float and jig drift with that rod loaded with 14lb. Fireline is a dream compared to my 8.5' rig. Nice to know it's got some promise.....next year, next year, although I'm sure it'll do nicely for winter runs too, if I ever get mended up enough to get out there.

I have several Allstar float rods and they are sweet! Caught springers, steelies, and they even held up to the chummers last fall.

Thanks for all the input guys. I decided to go with the Allstar. Took it out the day after I bought it and caught my first sttelhead on a jig and lost a freight train fish too.

I know the Loomis has better components (Fuji vs PacBay, etc), but I couldn't justify 3x the price. I figured that with a lifetime guarantee and more reasonable price, how could I go wrong? Also, I always have the 1025C to fall back on for drifting.

Ocus:

I've been fishing with my Loomis 1263C for about 6 years now and I absolutely love it. Not only is a great rod for float fishing but it is also a great drift fishing rod to. Powerful enough to land a 40# Fraser River King for me this summer, but yet the rod still feels light enough that you don't feel like it's overkill when your fighting a small steelhead. The drawback is the price I paid $250 for my rod several years ago, so the pinch wasn't that bad. If you don't want to spend the big money, I'm sure the allstar & rainshadow rods are good investments to and they will save you some cash.

BD

For an off the shelf float rod check out the Fenwick 10'-5" HMX series rated at 2-10lbs $106.00 at sportco,This rod was 65 bucks 6 years ago,but at at little over 100 bucks is still a great deal.
I've landed everything from Winterruns to Satsop chums and a 28lb springer...my .02....Os