Loop Opti Strike Fly Reel Review

Feb 21, 2018 · 2 min read

Black anodized Loop Opti Strike fly reel with silver three-arm CNC spool, large circular ports and machined aluminum finish

Please remember that there are no ads on this page and 100% of our funding comes from your purchases, so if you find this review to be informative, please help us keep the reviews coming by purchasing your next fly reel from us. Last but not least from Loop is the Opti Strike. It’s big. It’s full cage. How is it going to stand up to the competition? Keep reading… This reel is A LOT like the Evotec HD. Instead of re-writing everything, if you're curious to learn more about this reel, please read that review which goes into more detail. It’s available here. 8-Weight Shootout Full Results

Weight

9.2 ounces.

Drag

Black machined aluminum fly reel spool with cutout spoke design and silver central drag button, lightweight modern style

With more drag than the other two Loop reels, the Strike was off to a strong start, unfortunately, in this test 6 lbs just isn’t going to cut it. The Strike has 3.5lbs of effective drag and a quite good 42% at half drag. Finally, it has a whopping 1.21 lbs when turned all the way down. At least you know that if you turn it all the way down you'll have the right amount of drag for a lot of fishing situations...

Drag Test Graph

Loop Opti Strike fly reel drag graph with blue line on white grid, force (lbs) rising to ~6 then stabilizing across distance

Sound

Like the other Loop reels it’s silent coming in, soft going out.

Spool & Retrieval Rate

The Strike is absolutely enormous. It holds 4 times as much backing as the Abel SDS. Quite frankly, this is in no way an 8-weight reel. It may be an 8-weight Spey reel, but for a single hander, it’s just way too big. Because of its size, it almost isn’t even worth talking about things like retrieval rate since with a reasonable 200 yards of backing, you’re not even half way up the spool…

Looks & Ergonomics

See Evotec review. It’s more or less identical.

Finish and durability

Black anodized Loop Opti Strike fly reel with silver fly line spooled on a vented machined aluminum spool

Like the Evotec, it’s solid.

Warranty

Lifetime to the original owner + $30 fee. Price: $705

Conclusion

It's just way too big. Should the Loop Opti Strike have been in the test? No. It’s just nowhere near an 8-weight size and that comes through in the results. It's pretty hard to compare it to reels that are so much smaller...

Buy it with Free Shipping here.

Pros

Huge capacity.
Good durability

Cons

Really not an 8-weight reel
A spool release cap that’s way too easy to lose.

Written by

Ben Freeman

Ben Freeman founded Trident Fly Fishing in 2012 to cut through the marketing fluff and provide anglers with the technical info they actually need. He’s built his reputation by putting gear to the ultimate test in the world’s most unforgiving fisheries. With fishing stamps from over 22 countries and 17+ states, Ben’s passport is a roadmap of bucket list angling—from landing a 25lb Golden Dorado in Bolivia and 150lb Arapaima in Guyana to sight-casting for Roosterfish off the beaches in Baja. Whether it’s battling 60+mph winds to land a 20lb Rainbow at Jurassic Lake or a full day of casting 8in streamers in Mongolia, Ben has spent decades ensuring his gear performs when a trip of a lifetime is on the line.

At Trident, Ben serves as the lead gear geek, specializing in the deep-dive mechanics of rods, reels, and lines. Over the past 15 years, he's reviewed 250+ fly rods and 150+ fly reels and is likely one of the most prolific rod reviewers in the world. But he doesn't just curate the catalog; he scrutinizes every taper and drag system through the lens of a traveling angler who knows what it's like to have gear fail a thousand miles from home. For Ben, the mission is simple: leverage his experience across nearly 100 species to ensure that when you head into the wild, you’re equipped with gear that has been vetted by someone who has actually been there.

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