Tom Larimer announced yesterday he’s joining G. Loomis as Nation Sales Manager.

Based out of Hood River, Oregon he is a well known guide on the Deschutes River and highly respected Spey-casting instructor.

His move to Loomis follows a long association with Winston Rods where he was a technical adviser; he was also the designer of the very popular Winston MicroSpey rods that were released last year.

He didn’t explain the reason for the move, but I might speculate that at some point he realized he wasn’t getting younger and he needed financial stability for him and his family – a real job will provide that.

Two other thoughts:

First, I also heard Steve Rajeff is going to become much more involved in the marketing of G. Loomis rods to increase market share. The hiring of Tom Larimer is probably part of that strategy. And Hood River isn’t that far from Vancouver Washington so geographic proximity is a plus. I think they’re going to give the Sage marketing machine a run for their money

Second, Larimer’s departure from Winston isn’t good for that company. When long associations end, there’s often more to it than is discussed. I note that Winston is bringing out a new rod called the Boron III Plus. While other rod companies (e.g., Sage and Scott) used the week of IFTD to introduce the rod on their web sites and Facebook pages, Winston had no announcements or Facebook posts. I just wonder if these are two unrelated issues or part of a pattern.

You can read Tom Larimer’s announcement here.