NRX 895C JWR or GLX 896C FPR

[TxHawgs]

Anyone that's fishing these rods, was gonna use the NRX 895C for a flipping pitching rod. But it's only rated up to 1oz. The GLX which is actually a flipping rod is rated up to 1 1/2oz. Wanted the NRX as I would be able to feel a jig bite better as its more sensitive. But I'm worried that it may be too lite being rated for 1oz. Can anyone give me any suggestions or thoughts to this. Thanks

[Dypsis]

Look at the MB Perfect Pitch as well.  I picked one up late last summer and while I don't have much on the water time with it, its a really nice rod.  Also makes a nice frog rod as well.

[00 mod]

5 hours ago, TxHawgs said:

Anyone that's fishing these rods, was gonna use the NRX 895C for a flipping pitching rod. But it's only rated up to 1oz. The GLX which is actually a flipping rod is rated up to 1 1/2oz. Wanted the NRX as I would be able to feel a jig bite better as its more sensitive. But I'm worried that it may be too lite being rated for 1oz. Can anyone give me any suggestions or thoughts to this. Thanks

I too have been recently looking at these exact rods.  I am leaning toward the GLX because I like a F tip and not XF.  But am beginning to get swayed towards the NRX 916 C as I keep reading how overrated the weight ratings are AND how versatile it is!

Jeff

[Dypsis]

1 minute ago, 00 mod said:

I too have been recently looking at these exact rods.  I am leaning toward the GLX because I like a F tip and not XF.  But am beginning to get swayed towards the NRX 916 C as I keep reading how overrated the weight ratings are AND how versatile it is!

Jeff

Jeff talk to @Lucky Craft Man I think he has like 23 - 916's. He LOVES them.  Yes, from everything I've read the 916 is incredibly versatile.  I remember him saying it could easily handle 1oz flip/pitch duties.  

[00 mod]

He is the main reason I am considering it!  HAHA

Jeff

[Lucky Craft Man]

I love topics like this!  I own the NRX 895C JWR and have handled, but never fished, the GLX 896C FPR.  The NRX 895C JWR is an incredible pitching rod (even though you can pretty much pitch with any rod) and can handle lures rated a little higher than the rated 1 oz.  However, I wouldn't put it in the same consideration as the GLX 896C FPR because the NRX 895 fishes totally different than the FPR series.  

00 Mod and I recently had a discussion about this and when I was searching for a flipping stick that was a little more stout than the GLX 894C FPR, I looked at the GLX 896C FRP.  That thing felt like a meat stick to me.  I like a little tip on any rod I fish and I wanted a fast rod (and not extra fast).  That lead me to the aforementioned NRX 916 UBR (and Dypsis, I do have several of these rods, but I don't have 23 of them...yet).  G Loomis did two things wrong with rod in my opinion.  First, they rated this rod from 3 oz. to 8 oz.  I think this is way off.  I have fished lures as light as 1/2 oz (though, this was pushing the low end) and it didn't feel like the rod was overwhelming to what I was fishing.  It easily fish 3/4oz and 1 oz. lures with it.  On the other end of the rating, I tried casting 8 ounce lures with this rod, and I felt like it was going to snap with each cast.  Right around 6 oz. is the most I would cast comfortably with this rod.  That leads me to the second error made with this rod.  They labeled the rod an Umbrella Rig Rod.  With the large lure weight rating range and strong backbone of this rod, I have fished hollow bodies frogs over slop, punched mats with 1.5 oz. lead, flipped 1 oz. jigs into laydowns, bomb casted Huddleson swimbaits over submerged weedbeds, and have yet to seriously fish an Umbrella Rig with it.  They should have labeled it "The Most Versatile NRX You Will Ever Find," or something similar vs. just Umbrella Rig, because I think that label could scare some people off from even trying it for other techniques.  And the best part of this rod to me is the full cork rear handle.  Having that extra cork helps balance the rod out better than any other NRX I own (I find all those split grip NRX's to be tip heavy and I have to counterweight them to balance how I like) and to me there is no better feeling jigging lures in heavy grass or slop with a nicely balanced rod that seems to float in your hands as you work the bait.  D@mn, I need to go fishing!

Long story short, I would seriously consider the NRX 916 UBR for what you are fishing as I think it might fit what you are looking for (i.e., NRX sensitivity with the ability to handle flipping and pitching style lures into cover).    

[TxHawgs]

8 hours ago, Lucky Craft Man said:

I love topics like this!  I own the NRX 895C JWR and have handled, but never fished, the GLX 896C FPR.  The NRX 895C JWR is an incredible pitching rod (even though you can pretty much pitch with any rod) and can handle lures rated a little higher than the rated 1 oz.  However, I wouldn't put it in the same consideration as the GLX 896C FPR because the NRX 895 fishes totally different than the FPR series.  

00 Mod and I recently had a discussion about this and when I was searching for a flipping stick that was a little more stout than the GLX 894C FPR, I looked at the GLX 896C FRP.  That thing felt like a meat stick to me.  I like a little tip on any rod I fish and I wanted a fast rod (and not extra fast).  That lead me to the aforementioned NRX 916 UBR (and Dypsis, I do have several of these rods, but I don't have 23 of them...yet).  G Loomis did two things wrong with rod in my opinion.  First, they rated this rod from 3 oz. to 8 oz.  I think this is way off.  I have fished lures as light as 1/2 oz (though, this was pushing the low end) and it didn't feel like the rod was overwhelming to what I was fishing.  It easily fish 3/4oz and 1 oz. lures with it.  On the other end of the rating, I tried casting 8 ounce lures with this rod, and I felt like it was going to snap with each cast.  Right around 6 oz. is the most I would cast comfortably with this rod.  That leads me to the second error made with this rod.  They labeled the rod an Umbrella Rig Rod.  With the large lure weight rating range and strong backbone of this rod, I have fished hollow bodies frogs over slop, punched mats with 1.5 oz. lead, flipped 1 oz. jigs into laydowns, bomb casted Huddleson swimbaits over submerged weedbeds, and have yet to seriously fish an Umbrella Rig with it.  They should have labeled it "The Most Versatile NRX You Will Ever Find," or something similar vs. just Umbrella Rig, because I think that label could scare some people off from even trying it for other techniques.  And the best part of this rod to me is the full cork rear handle.  Having that extra cork helps balance the rod out better than any other NRX I own (I find all those split grip NRX's to be tip heavy and I have to counterweight them to balance how I like) and to me there is no better feeling jigging lures in heavy grass or slop with a nicely balanced rod that seems to float in your hands as you work the bait.  D@mn, I need to go fishing!

Long story short, I would seriously consider the NRX 916 UBR for what you are fishing as I think it might fit what you are looking for (i.e., NRX sensitivity with the ability to handle flipping and pitching style lures into cover).    

This helped me immensely, I just purchased the NRX 895C but have to go pick it up. So your saying u have an 895C and use it for pitching and it works great but wanted also wanted a heavier pitching rod and ended up w the 916C? I am ordering the 916C as I need an alabama rig rod. So the GLX 896C felt like a broom handle huh lol. You said u wanted a F not an XF tip yet on the Loomis site it has the GLX FPR rods listed as a F tip? I was also interested in buying the GLX 953C FPR for the length and use for lighter pitching and C-rigs, do u have any experience w this rod?

[Lucky Craft Man]

The NRX 895C JWR and the NRX 916C UBR compliment each other quite well.  When I am fishing a lake with a lot of grass, the 895 and 916's are my work horses (along with the NRX 873 CRR).  The 895 usually has either a 3/4 oz jig or weighted plastic on it and it is used in the thicker grass around docks, lillypad fields, laydowns, and any other moderate to heavier cover.  One 916 always has a hollow bodied style bait and the other 916 has a 1 to 1.5 oz. weighted  plastic rig for the real heavy stuff, like slop mats (I do have a third 916 that usually has a weedless Huddleson Swimbait on for the submerged weedlines).  The 873 handles all the medium cover situations with a 1/2 jig or weighted plastic on it.  With those four, I feel like I can fish any grass lake there is (though, I will admit, I have never fished one of those famous grass lakes in Florida with this line-up of rods, but there is Eutrophic by me that has some seriously heavy slop and bringing in 8 pounds of vegitation with a 4 pound fish is not uncommon).

I am sure you will be very happy with your new NRX rods.  

As far as the GLX 953C FPR, I was very excited about this rod when it came out, but I couldn't find a place that carried it to see how it felt.  On paper, it looks like an incredible rod, but I have never handled one and to be honest, once you fish the NRX 895 and 916, you'll forget G Loomis even makes a GLX line.

[TxHawgs]

7 hours ago, Lucky Craft Man said:

The NRX 895C JWR and the NRX 916C UBR compliment each other quite well.  When I am fishing a lake with a lot of grass, the 895 and 916's are my work horses (along with the NRX 873 CRR).  The 895 usually has either a 3/4 oz jig or weighted plastic on it and it is used in the thicker grass around docks, lillypad fields, laydowns, and any other moderate to heavier cover.  One 916 always has a hollow bodied style bait and the other 916 has a 1 to 1.5 oz. weighted  plastic rig for the real heavy stuff, like slop mats (I do have a third 916 that usually has a weedless Huddleson Swimbait on for the submerged weedlines).  The 873 handles all the medium cover situations with a 1/2 jig or weighted plastic on it.  With those four, I feel like I can fish any grass lake there is (though, I will admit, I have never fished one of those famous grass lakes in Florida with this line-up of rods, but there is Eutrophic by me that has some seriously heavy slop and bringing in 8 pounds of vegitation with a 4 pound fish is not uncommon).

I am sure you will be very happy with your new NRX rods.  

As far as the GLX 953C FPR, I was very excited about this rod when it came out, but I couldn't find a place that carried it to see how it felt.  On paper, it looks like an incredible rod, but I have never handled one and to be honest, once you fish the NRX 895 and 916, you'll forget G Loomis even makes a GLX line.

So your saying I can use the 916C as my swimbait rod also? If so it looks like I'm going to want at least 4 of them. Do u have any of the 6'8" rods for tight work or spinnerbaits, topwater and jerkbaits? How do u walk a hollow body frog on a 7'5" rod? What brand crankbait rods do u use? I was gonna buy the GLX's.

[Lucky Craft Man]

"So your saying I can use the 916C as my swimbait rod also? If so it looks like I'm going to want at least 4 of them."

Haha...now you know why Dypsis jokes about me having 23 of them.  If you don't like to retie on the water (like I don't like to do) and you want a NRX to cover all those techniques, then more than one will be needed.

 

"Do u have any of the 6'8" rods for tight work or spinnerbaits, topwater and jerkbaits?"

My Spinnerbait & Topwater rod is a modified NRX 843 MBR (since I very rarely fish open water topwater baits, this rod does double duty).  I had a rodmaker (i.e., Scott Hovanec) strip the handle assembly, cut three inches off the butt and put on a new grip and reel seat (so effectively, it's 6'9" long).

My Jerkbait Rod is a modified CBR 855 GLX.  Scott also stripped this rods handle assembly off, cut 4" off the butt, and put on a new grip and reel seat (this rod also ended up at 6'9")

 

"How do u walk a hollow body frog on a 7'5" rod?"

 My old frog rod was the G Loomis TWFR 935C, which is 7'9" long and heavier than the NRX 916.  So learning to walk the dog with a hollow bodied frog with the TWFR 935C made going to a rod that was 2 inches shorter and lighter much easier.

 

"What brand crankbait rods do u use?"

I very rarely crankbait fish.  When I fish for bass, I am either fishing heavly slop for largemouth of the Great Lakes for Smallmouth.  So I go from heavy cover gear to spinning gear.  With that being said (and with how anal I am), I do have a crankbait rod line-up, which consists of:

G Loomis SWBR953C - Paddletail Swimbaits and Mege-deep crankbaits, like the xd10

G Loomis CBR 896 DF - Crankbaits that dive from 10 ft down to 20+ ft.

G Loomis SMR 814C-CB - Shallow Crankbait, Squarebills, and Lipless Crankbaits.

 

"I was gonna buy the GLX's."

For as much as I crankbait fish, the above rods suit me just fine.  If I did it a lot more, I would probably go to the GLX Crankbait line-up.

[926]

Hi guys thanks for having me.

 

Lucky Craft Man, I am a new member from Africa been tracking the 916/895 for awhile now. You seem to be the world authority on these 2 NRX models. I am torn between the 916 and the 895. Not too worried about versatility I just want another bad arse punching stick - but I don't often go over 1.25 oz maybe 1.5 max - mostly 3/4 oz.

 

I gather from you (and others) that the 895 is pinnacle NRX sensitivity - (I do own a few - 854 and 2 x 873 - love em) but 895 rated maybe slightly over 1oz - I see you concur on this - I held one the other day very tip heavy but felt good. You say 916 slightly less sensitive but full grip so better balance and 5/8 to 5 oz.. never held one. 

 

SO, do I go 895 or 916 for this weight range punching?

 

Thank you.