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| Here's how it started! It was a passion for catching steelhead like this beauty that led Gary Loomis into becoming one of the world's most respected rod builders. |
A Guy Named Gary (Part 1)
By Stan Fagerstrom
Last year the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) honored a friend of mine. He’s a man I’ve watched with keen interest darn near as long as I’ve been writing about fishing. And that, my friends, has been awhile.
If you follow news from the sports fishing field you may have already guessed whom I’m talking about. The man who received the AMA “Future of Fishing” award for the year 2005 was Gary Loomis, the founder of G.Loomis Rods.
I could take the next 10 pages to detail the success Gary Loomis has had as a genius in the field of rod building. Part of those 10 pages would also be used to reveal how Gary has worked just as hard to insure the future of the nation’s migratory fishes. But that’s not my intent. Gary’s efforts in both regards have already been well recorded.
My intent is to look even further back. I’d like to share with you some of the events that took Gary to the prominent place he now holds on the American sports fishing scene. I can do that because I was around when it started. I knew Gary long before the company that today bears his name began cranking out rods by the tens of thousands for fishermen all over the world.
I watched him overcome a host of obstacles before becoming one of the world’s most successful rod builders. I also knew something else about Gary that you might not. The whole thing started because he loved to fish for steelhead. And Gary was and still is one of the best steelhead fishermen it has ever been my good fortune to share a bank or boat with. He’s also one of those guys who once they really get hold of something, they ain’t fixin’ to let go. If they find something that doesn’t work just the way they think it should, they’ll come up with a way of doing it better.
I want to share with you some of the tips and tactics Loomis was using to put steelhead in the boat or on the bank before he ever got near the rod building business. Why? Because the tactics he employed to become a recognized expert at steelhead angling still serve equally well to do the same thing today. The one main exception is that today, thanks to Gary, we’ve got better equipment to do it with.
There was a period earlier in his life when Gary referred to himself as a “steelhead bum.” As I recall he had a medical problem of some kind or other that kept him away from work for awhile. It sure didn’t keep him off the riverbank.
Some years ago I could have told you exactly where Gary was going to be most days of the week. He’d have been in one of two spots from daylight until after dark. One of those places was in the rod factory that bears his name. When he was there he was up to his ears in graphite figuring out how to turn out a rod that met his own high standards of performance. When he wasn’t in his factory, you’d have found him in his jet sled fishing one or another of the rivers of Southwest Washington.
I mention all this for a reason. Anybody who has fished steelhead long enough to know his behind from a backlash knows about G.Loomis Rods. These excellent rods with their "Made in the USA" label are among the finest in the world. They are also among the best selling.
The reason that's come about isn't by accident or coincidence. As I’ve already detailed, Gary Loomis was a fisherman before he wrapped his first length of fiberglass. I’ve always felt that was a primary reason for the success the rods bearing his name have enjoyed. Gary’s love of the sport shows up in the products G.Loomis produces. Again, Gary’s own high level of expertise is reflected in way they perform.
Gary doesn’t spend the time pursuing steelhead today that he once did. He sold his rod building business some years ago. Ever since he has spent a great deal of time in big game hunting adventures all around the world. Trying to catch up with him can be difficult because it seems like he’s usually off somewhere to places like Ethiopia or Africa hunting everything from water buffalo to lions with the same enthusiasm he once devoted to steelhead. He has also been just about as successful with a rifle as he was with a rod.
In my next two Casting Corners I’ll detail the basic planks in Gary’s steelhead-catching platform. You’ll do well to build them into your own approach to the sport.
-To Be Continued-
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| Last year the American Sportfishing Association honored Gary Loomis with its Future of Fishing award. The Fish First organization that Loomis launched more than a decade ago in Southwest Washington State now commands national attention. Gary is pictured with his wife, Susan. |
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