Stockholm, Sweden – Loop Tackle Design ("Loop") and Goldcup AB ("Goldcup") announce that Goldcup has acquired a 75% equity ownership in Loop.

Under the guidance of the new board of directors, Loop management is pleased to inform it's suppliers, distributors, retail sales shops and loyal customers, that although Loop has experienced several challenging years, this new partnership creates financial stability and will now allow the management team to resume principle focus on it's core strengths of producing quality fly fishing tackle.

The new Loop Cross S1 fly rod series is the single most important revolution to occur in fly fishing since we introduced the large arbor reel over 20 years ago. It’s that big. 

If the large arbor provided revolutionary function that made the fly reel exponentially better, you won’t believe the difference Cross S1 construction makes with fly rods. We could write an entire book on the adventure that has led to the Cross S1 series of fly rods. We could look up and write down all the available superlatives that are yet unused by other manufacturers (not many left nowadays), but the only way to truly describe what we mean is to hand one to you and let you test for yourself. If there has ever been a time in our history of development of high-performance fly fishing gear where Loop merited a “look” and a test from the fly fishing world, it is now.

Argentina prime hunting time coming up ,  March and April for roaring Red Stags , Wild Boar ,  Axis Deer , Mouflon , Water Buffalo , Fallow Deer , Puma and Black Buck, wing shooting for Doves , Pidgeon , Ducks and Geese.  Namibia for Kudu , Spring Bucks , Oryx ,  Black and Blue Wildebeast , Waterbuck , Steinbuck  , Klipspringers to mention a few.  Scotland May and June for Roebucks. Turkey in March for Wild Boars and Bezoar Ibex , Tajikistan in April for Afgan Urial Ibex , Urial Sheep and Wild Boars. Contact Arni for all further information on these hunts at arnibald@lax-a.is

Tungufljot is a big river, clear waters and beautiful surroundings and close to Reykjavik. It is our biggest self catering river, holding 6 rods on the main beat, and is ideal for groups of 4 to 6 anglers.  On average, between the years 2008 and 2010, the river gave up 1630 salmon per season. Catch figures from 2011 are not yet available – but last season was not as good as the ones before. But that’s fishing, one year you catch incredible numbers of salmon – the next you don’t even see one.

Here in Iceland the weather is getting little crazy. Most of the ring road around Iceland is impassable and the roads that are open are only passable by 4x4 vehicles with a lot of snow and ice in the way. The West fjords are completely closed and the authorities are asking people to stay inside, that means no school or work for the majority of the people. If that was not enough most of the flights from Iceland have been cancelled because the passengers can’t get to the airport. People that arrived last night to Keflavik Airport were not able to leave until the morning and there are still some people that are stuck because the road closed again around eight this morning. Here is a picture of the Icelandic road system; the impassable roads are marked with red. johann@lax-a.is

We have still 2 rods available with us on the Kau Taupen - Rio Grande - Tierra Del Fuego ,  this for Trophy Searun Trout,   shortly after following trip will be to Cuba 21 - 28th April for Tarpon , Bonefish and Permit , this is Paredon fishing area , here we have 2 boats 4 rods available. Contact Arni at arnibald@lax-a.is

Here is the latest openings in Russia and Norway.
Norway:
Sandbrota / Gaula opening week 1 - 7th June. 2 rods.
Sandbrota / Gaula 7 - 9th June.  4 rods.
Gaulfossen Opening week 1 - 7th June. 1 rod.
Lakselvan 12 - 19th August. 4 rods.
Russia:
Varzina 09 - 16th June. 4 rods.
Kola river 16 - 23rd June. 4 rods.
Kola river 23 - 30th June. 4 rods.
Contact Arni at arnibald@lax-a.is

Have you ever toyed with the idea of coming to Iceland on a self guided tour and visit a couple of rivers? We have several small rivers in the north western part of Iceland and in the West fjords that are easy to combine in a 6 day trip. The rivers Halla, Krossa and Middalsa are all in the north-western and West fjord region of Iceland. All the rivers have private lodges and only hold 2 rods each. All af the rivers have good access and are very private.

These two rivers share the same estuary in the West fjords of Iceland and each one has a self catering lodge. It has become increasingly popular to combine the two rivers for larger groups that prefer self catering. The rivers combined hold 7 rod between them and offer a very wide variety of pools to be fished.

Rio Grande – like Kau Tapen the water was a little bit lower than we would like and a bit too warm. However we had some rain that cooled everything down and this paid dividends. Tactics were exactly the same as Kau Tapen, low and slow with the fly having to be on the river bed to be in the “zone” and here rubber leg nymphs and buggers proved the most effective.

Rio Grande – our first week the water a little low and warm and during our second week the water was still a little low and we had very warm days and then cool days so the temperature of the waters fluctuated between 8 and 14°C. Tactically this meant that for both weeks we fished low and slow with flies such as the Green Machine being the most effective.