A Classic is Reborn : G.Loomis's MBR842C GLX

Total Score: 8.08 - ULTIMATE ENTHUSIAST AWARD!

Introduction: Over the last decade or so, G.Loomis has followed the bass-industry wide trend of providing anglers with fishing rods custom tailored to specific techniques and baits. It’s gotten to the point where many anglers can’t rig a soft plastic worm or tie a hook without first checking the specification on their fishing rod to see if the product they’re holding in hand is listed on the blank. Back before the industry became so obsessed with technique specific rods, all an angler had to do was check the line and lure weight specifications on the rod, confirm the rod’s taper, decide on a bait, tie it on, toss it out, and fish away.

Welcome back to a classic stick, G.Loomis's MBR842C GLX.

Back when bass fishing was full of more independently thinking anglers, G.Loomis set the industry standard with their Mag Bass series, or in the brand vernacular “MBR”.

At ICAST 2016, the manufacturer turned back their product clock by renewing, revising, and updating their neglected, under appreciated, and ultimately most versatile bass fishing lineup. It marked the return of one of my all time favorite sticks. Time to see if the reincarnated MBR842C GLX is as magical as the original.

A familiar old school design with a couple of contemporary twists.

Impressions: The original MBR842C GLX featured an old school design with a full rear grip and foregrip made of cork, a Fuji ECS reel seat (or their proprietary Weibe seat if you were lucky) and SiC guides. G.Loomis updates the look of their MBR GLX series with the same full rear grip but a small cork foregrip that is integrated into the reel seat locking mechanism. Adding a little 21st Century flare, the back end of the rear grip also has a small band of graphite to break up that solid cork look and serve as bold transition to the compressed cork butt cap.

That new, tiny, foregrip is actually functional integrated with the reel seat's locking mechanism.

The rod's guides are Fuji, stainless steel frames with SiC inserts and the reel seat is a custom design built by Fuji. G.Loomis maintains the raw blank finish of the original MBR GLX series along with black thread wraps highlighted with a think, electric blue wrap. It's a very clean, contemporary design while maintaining that ode to old school appeal.

That carbon inlay and the taper of the rod handle is new.