Matt Allen of TacticalBassin has published his 2026 spring gear review, singling out the fully revamped G. Loomis IMX Pro rod line and the first US-market release of Shimano's Vanquish spinning reel as the standout pieces of equipment for bass anglers heading into the main season.
Allen, who hosts the long-running bass fishing channel alongside fellow pro Tim Little, framed the review as a filter on a spring stacked with new product. "We have been hard at work this spring. You guys know Tim and I love tackle. We geek out on it. We're absolute tackle junkies. We buy up all the new stuff and put it through the paces just to see what's out there. We don't want to miss something. We find a lot of junk and we find some absolute gems. So, what we've got here today for you are some of those gems."
The biggest talking point is the revamped IMX Pro from G. Loomis. The line has been a long-standing workhorse in both hosts' tackle — they reference MBR, JWR, crankbait and swimbait variants across seasons — and any overhaul of a staple rod carries obvious risk. "So, when we caught wind that it was being revamped, we were both excited and nervous because what happens when a line of rods gets revamped? Change happens," Allen said.
The verdict on the new IMX Pro is positive. Allen reported a noticeable step up in sensitivity and highlighted a small but meaningful change to the spinning handle — a subtle palm swell that improves connection with the cork without overdoing it. He also emphasised US-based manufacturing: the rods continue to be built in Woodland, Washington. The biggest practical change, he noted, is the line-up itself. "There were a whole bunch that were discontinued... but it was like I'm not going to call them the weird ones... the outliers, the ones that you probably had never picked up disappeared out of the rod lineup. All the core rods are still there," he said, before flagging nine new models, including what he described as the first BFS-specific rod G. Loomis has ever produced in IMX Pro trim.
The reel highlight of the review is the Shimano Vanquish, which arrived in the US market in January 2026 after years of being locked behind Japan's domestic-market tackle system. Allen explained that the reel is well-known to hardcore finesse anglers through JDM imports but had not been supported in the US until this year. "The Vanquish is the highest end in that finesse family of reels," he said, framing it against Shimano's power-family spinning reels and arguing that the finesse line has a distinctly different feel through the casting stroke and retrieve.
The rest of the gear review steps down through mid-tier rods and into baits, with Allen and Little framing the list as "items that have been surviving the testing, surviving the abuse, catching fish, improving our fishing, and they really stand out from the crowd." The headline takeaway for anglers shopping the 2026 spring cycle, however, is that the two flagship pieces of tackle on their list — the IMX Pro and the Vanquish — are both arrivals rather than incremental updates, and both come with strong endorsements from a channel that has built its audience on a willingness to call gear it does not rate.
