Loomis IMX-PRO Musky Rod

IMX-PROm Review: Brendan Ruch

With the help of seasoned musky guide Chris Willen, G. Loomis has added another thoughtfully designed rod to the IMX-Pro series. In addition to working on a rod taper that is designed to cast sinking lines and big flies with less fatigue, there was a lot of thought put into the smaller details of these rods. The snake guides are beefy and the three stripping guides increase durability during the figure eight when you whack the rod against the side of the boat. The spey butt gives you more leverage and control during the figure eight by giving you a solid grip for your off-hand. There is also additional cork above the full wells grip that gives you a place to hold the rod during the retrieve that will minimize trout setting and is a good spot for your dominant hand during the figure eight.

IMX-Pro M 1190-4

This rod will be your do it all musky stick. It was designed for standard sized flies (8-12”) made using traditional materials such as bucktail and synthetic materials that shed water easily. I’ve used this with a varying sink rate 450gr lines and they all have worked well with this rod. This 11wt adds a lot of confidence during casting due to the crazy amount of loop control it provides. It also doesn’t fold over during the figure eight, which is a problem with other “musky” rods I’ve used.

IMX-Pro M 1290-4

The 12wt in this series is designed to throw very large flies that don’t shed water as easily. This is the rod I’m throwing my biggest game changers with (12-15”). You can still use the 11wt for these flies, but the 12wt provides additional lifting power and the taper was designed to throw the super heavy flies. Additional power and this unique taper will reduce fatigue during a long day of casting the big stuff. You can still use 450gr lines with this rod since the additional weight of the larger 12-15" flies will compensate for the grain weight difference. It will also cast 500gr lines just fine if you need a faster sinking line.