Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by Johnbt » Mon Apr 02, 2018 4:37 am

I fished my 783 all day last Thursday and I can't tell you what color it is. It's quickly become my favorite. I can tell you about the osprey that pulled an 8-inch fish out of the pond in front of us and the white doves perched in the tree, but not the color of my rods. I think one of them is blue, maybe the LTB sniper spinnerbait? The carpet in my 1648 is definitely red and so was my sunburn even though I had #50 sunscreen on. :oops:

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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by surf n turf » Tue Apr 03, 2018 5:51 pm

Anyone have any feedback on the 844C? Wanna use it as my primary 3/8oz jig rod and it will be replacing a Dobyns DX 705C(old model). It needs to excel in the 3/8oz+trailer range as I already have a designated 1/2oz. jig rod(FMJ). Will it cast down to as light as weightless 5" senkos? I currently use a GLX 843 for that.

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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by Rodster14 » Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:40 am

I have both the 843 and 844. The 843 is my favorite. If you are getting a rod primarily to fish 3/8 jigs and some weightless Senkos, I would get the 843. The 844c is my jig rod. A 1/2 Jig with a trailer felt like a little too much for the 843c. Since you already have a FMJ for heavier jigs, get the 843c. It is great for Senkos, Texas rigged worms, lipless cranks, chatterbait, top water, etc. Very versatile.

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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by cndbasshunter » Wed Apr 04, 2018 10:38 am

agreed...

843 and FMJ is perfect

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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by surf n turf » Wed Apr 04, 2018 12:41 pm

I'm not planning on casting senkos with it. Was just wondering if it was capable to give me an idea of the tip action. I messed around with an 843 in the store and there is no way that thing would make for a designated 3/8oz jig rod, for me at least. Thanks for the replies. Anyone know how the Conquest 844 feels compared to the NRX 854?

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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by KP Duty » Wed Apr 04, 2018 10:42 pm

surf n turf wrote:I'm not planning on casting senkos with it. Was just wondering if it was capable to give me an idea of the tip action. I messed around with an 843 in the store and there is no way that thing would make for a designated 3/8oz jig rod, for me at least. Thanks for the replies. Anyone know how the Conquest 844 feels compared to the NRX 854?
I don't own a conquest, but I feel the same way about the glx. I don't even want the 843 glx for 1/4oz jig and trailer. The 844's tip is nice and capable of throwing lighter baits. I will say I don't fish jigs with braid, but even if I did, I don't want the upper section of my rod flexing at all when I'm dragging a jig around of over stuff. JMO....

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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by surf n turf » Thu Apr 05, 2018 3:07 pm

KP Duty wrote:
surf n turf wrote:I'm not planning on casting senkos with it. Was just wondering if it was capable to give me an idea of the tip action. I messed around with an 843 in the store and there is no way that thing would make for a designated 3/8oz jig rod, for me at least. Thanks for the replies. Anyone know how the Conquest 844 feels compared to the NRX 854?
I don't own a conquest, but I feel the same way about the glx. I don't even want the 843 glx for 1/4oz jig and trailer. The 844's tip is nice and capable of throwing lighter baits. I will say I don't fish jigs with braid, but even if I did, I don't want the upper section of my rod flexing at all when I'm dragging a jig around of over stuff. JMO....
Thanks! It can be difficult to get dialed-in to the correct rod based on opinions because everyone has their preference and everyone fishes different waters. The lakes I frequent the most are pretty heavy cabbage and coontail with mostly muck bottom so I prefer a slightly more powerful rod with a stiffer tip than I would if I was on a sand or rock bottom with little to no vegetation. What I'm hoping for is that the 844 is just a step less powerful than the FMJ but is still capable of casting down to 1/4oz jigs on the low end and 1/2oz comfortably on the top end. For me, a proper jig rod should be comfortable fishing within that weight range and excel at loading-up 3/8oz+trailer on a cast.

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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by Bubbleboy » Thu Apr 05, 2018 6:01 pm

Two weeks ago I purchased a very lightly used Conquest 843c from a board member. Playing with it in the house, there were very minor differences between it and the NRX 843c. Looking forward to fishing it to better compare. Today was the start of the sale at a local shop in Oshawa and I had two more follow me home, 783c and a 842s. Although a 3 power the 783 has slightly less backbone than the 843c, but just the perfect tip for throwing light Texas rigs and jerkbaits. The 842s has slightly more power than my NRX 822s SYR, which is what I was looking for as I wanted to consolidate down from two spinning NRXs (822s SYR and 872s JWR) to one Conquest spinning.

I thought I wanted a Conquest 904c, but after fondling it for a bit I found it was just a bit too tip heavy. The 903c was more balanced, but lacked the backbone I was looking for. Coincidently they had an NRX 873c CRR there (which I just happened to sell a few months ago) and noticed how stiff it was compared to the 904c. Turns out I may be looking more towards a Conquest 844c in the future.
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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by bigfruits » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:57 pm

i found the 843 to be noticeably more powerful than the NRX version. i was casting a chatterbait/paddle tail that i later weighted out to be 26 grams and it was in the wheelhouse. did not feel heavy on the cast and was perfect on the retrieve. unfortunately the biggest fish i could produce was about 2lbs and it was in open water so cant give my opinion on the backbone but im pretty sure its all there.

i could easily tell when the blade was moving and when it was not. i fished a 3/8oz jig + trailer on it for a short while and the sensitivity was there. too early for me to compare to the NRX 843 there but a contender for sure. a little better balanced than the NRX, not that the NRX is bad. more comfortable in my hands than the NRX, personal preference of course.

can anyone compare the tip and the power of the CNQ 842 to the NRX 842 or old GLX 842?

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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by bronzefly » Sat Apr 21, 2018 5:29 am

bigfruits wrote:i found the 843 to be noticeably more powerful than the NRX version.

can anyone compare the tip and the power of the CNQ 842 to the NRX 842 or old GLX 842?
Exactly. The Conquest 842 is noticeably more powerful than the NRX or GLX version as well. I've been fishing crank baits, jerk baits, and a 5" Senko on it lately. Fantastic rod indeed. The more I fish with the Conquest line, the more I enjoy them.
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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by Houndfish » Sat Apr 21, 2018 7:08 am

bronzefly wrote:
bigfruits wrote:i found the 843 to be noticeably more powerful than the NRX version.

can anyone compare the tip and the power of the CNQ 842 to the NRX 842 or old GLX 842?
Exactly. The Conquest 842 is noticeably more powerful than the NRX or GLX version as well. I've been fishing crank baits, jerk baits, and a 5" Senko on it lately. Fantastic rod indeed. The more I fish with the Conquest line, the more I enjoy them.
How does the Conquest 843c compare to a 843c GLX?

I have a 783c GLX that I like a lot, but for the long handle. I also just picked up an old CR723 GLX, so now I kinda want to replace the 783c with a 7' rod so I have one at 6' and one at 7'. I was looking at the 843c GLX but have read some stuff about it not being as crisp at the 783c but better on the lighter end of it's range. My next rod up in power is an FMJ and my next rod down is a XXX Black Themis, so I don't want a rod that is much different in power then the783c as I feel that it is a good middle ground between the two.

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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by Bubbleboy » Sat Apr 21, 2018 10:18 am

Bubbleboy wrote:Two weeks ago I purchased a very lightly used Conquest 843c from a board member. Playing with it in the house, there were very minor differences between it and the NRX 843c. Looking forward to fishing it to better compare. Today was the start of the sale at a local shop in Oshawa and I had two more follow me home, 783c and a 842s. Although a 3 power the 783 has slightly less backbone than the 843c, but just the perfect tip for throwing light Texas rigs and jerkbaits. The 842s has slightly more power than my NRX 822s SYR, which is what I was looking for as I wanted to consolidate down from two spinning NRXs (822s SYR and 872s JWR) to one Conquest spinning.

I thought I wanted a Conquest 904c, but after fondling it for a bit I found it was just a bit too tip heavy. The 903c was more balanced, but lacked the backbone I was looking for. Coincidently they had an NRX 873c CRR there (which I just happened to sell a few months ago) and noticed how stiff it was compared to the 904c. Turns out I may be looking more towards a Conquest 844c in the future.
Had a chance to fondle an 844c and a 904c. The 844c won out. I tried a few of the 7’6” Conquests, and while I can appreciate them, I prefer the 7’ rods due to balance. And since there was a sale on, I added an 842c to the stable too. Ok....I’m done for the season.
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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by bigfruits » Sun Apr 22, 2018 3:02 am

Houndfish wrote:
How does the Conquest 843c compare to a 843c GLX?
i have not fished the newest version of the 843 GLX but have fished the classic GLX 843 and GLX 783 (still my favorite spinnerbait rod) and NRX 843. hopefully Gary can compare to the newest version.

the CNQ 843 in my hands seems more powerful than any of those rods. stiffer tip than the NRX, more like the old GLX MBRs. More like a St. Croix MH than a typical Loomis MH. Megabass 5 maybe. You can comfortably go above the lure weight rating of 3/4oz.

my 1st gen XX DSR loads and slings a 3/8oz whopper plopper 90 a good distance. The CNQ 843 wanted more. a 3/8oz jighead + yamamoto DT grub was in the wheelhouse but i think if i stepped up to 1/2 + plastic it would have been fine. i would have felt comfortable pitching a jig into anything except the nastiest of cover. might not be my first choice for superline hooks. i was able cast a 26g chatterbait in a powerful "surf cast" manner and did not have to hold back in fear of breaking the tip. good vibration feel from the chatterbait without too much random tip movement. i did not like the NRX 843 for baits with high resistance because of the tip action. i much prefer the old GLX MBRs and CNQ 843 over the NRX 843 for spinnerbaits and bladed jigs.

wish i could have got a decent fish to test the power there but i did reel in a good sized log or two and it handled them just fine ;)

hope this helps, your mileage may vary. some earlier posts are quite different from my opinions on this rod!

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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by Hobie-Wan Kenobi » Sun Apr 22, 2018 6:33 am

bigfruits wrote:
Houndfish wrote:
How does the Conquest 843c compare to a 843c GLX?
i have not fished the newest version of the 843 GLX but have fished the classic GLX 843 and GLX 783 (still my favorite spinnerbait rod) and NRX 843. hopefully Gary can compare to the newest version.

the CNQ 843 in my hands seems more powerful than any of those rods. stiffer tip than the NRX, more like the old GLX MBRs. More like a St. Croix MH than a typical Loomis MH. Megabass 5 maybe. You can comfortably go above the lure weight rating of 3/4oz.

my 1st gen XX DSR loads and slings a 3/8oz whopper plopper 90 a good distance. The CNQ 843 wanted more. a 3/8oz jighead + yamamoto DT grub was in the wheelhouse but i think if i stepped up to 1/2 + plastic it would have been fine. i would have felt comfortable pitching a jig into anything except the nastiest of cover. might not be my first choice for superline hooks. i was able cast a 26g chatterbait in a powerful "surf cast" manner and did not have to hold back in fear of breaking the tip. good vibration feel from the chatterbait without too much random tip movement. i did not like the NRX 843 for baits with high resistance because of the tip action. i much prefer the old GLX MBRs and CNQ 843 over the NRX 843 for spinnerbaits and bladed jigs.

wish i could have got a decent fish to test the power there but i did reel in a good sized log or two and it handled them just fine ;)

hope this helps, your mileage may vary. some earlier posts are quite different from my opinions on this rod!
I feel the same way. I would NOT (edit) think twice overloading the Conquest, the NRX...different story. The Spiral X or something with the blank allows it to cast even more crisp than the NRX.

I was able to cast 1/16oz shakeyhead plus 4in worm "fine" on the 843c. Definitely it's lower limit. I was using the Daiwa SV Light so, I know the limit would be the rod, as I've tested the reel down below 1/8oz using 10lb Cajun Red Line.

Haven't hooked into a fish with it seeing how I've been living in a snow globe since I got it from The Tackle Trap a few months back.
Last edited by Hobie-Wan Kenobi on Sun Apr 22, 2018 7:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Shimano Loomis Conquest rods

Post by Houndfish » Sun Apr 22, 2018 7:15 am

Cool, thanks guys!

It sounds like I should be looking at the CNQ 842C if I want to upgrade or the 853c GLX if I want a more lateral move. I need to get the CR723 GLX some more time on the water before I make any moves, but if it can cover the presentations I use the 783c GLX for then I think the 783c is going away. I really wish I had paid more attention to the handle vs overall length when I bought it, it's a great rod but it's like I have the usable length of a 6' rod with the cumbersome handle of a 7'.

As a side note, ALF has some serious deals on the Conquests right now via their ebay store, a CNQ 843c for like $525 and a CNQ 842 for like $575. Anyone know if there is going to be a price drop, or is this just a pricing-robot error?

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