IGFA Theater Presents: Gary Loomis
Gary Loomis could not find a fishing rod he was happy with, so he created a company to build the very best one possible – for himself. Before long, the name G.Loomis had become synonymous with some of the finest fishing rods in the sport. And they were available to everyone. It began with Gary’s love of angling. Born and raised in Centralia, Washington, he fished the rivers of the Cascade Mountains frequently. A self-proclaimed “steelhead bum,” he studied the species exhaustively and continually refined his angling techniques. After high school, Gary spent four years in the Navy as a machinist, and the next ten years working for a machine shop that manufactured specialized equipment for lumber mills. In 1974 Gary began working for Lamiglas rods, in charge of their rod blank production facility. It was during his early years at Lamiglas that Loomis pioneered carbon-fiber technology. In 1980 he started Loomis Composites which launched his own career in the fishing industry, and a year later helped establish Loomis Franklin, a Taiwanese company that became the world’s largest producer of graphite fishing rods.
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