fishnkamp

I personally love my Dobyns Champion XP model DC705C. I would have preferred the DC 735C, but it will not fit in my rod box. I spoke with Gary and he said the tapers on the two rods differed and the 735C was the best choice but assured me I would be happy with the 7 footer. He was right I love the rod for frogs, big jigs and pitching. If you are considering the choice between a Fury 734 and a Fury 735 I think the 735C is the way to go. I suggest you think really carefully of all the baits this rod will cover than give Dobyns a call. The owner and his son both love to give personal help to their customers. As for reels. I know you said you would prefer a Shimano. I have no idea what your discount source can do for you, but the best options in the under $150 category would be a Citica I reel which normally sells for $149. Be aware Tackle Warehouse has the Shimano Curado I reels on sale for $149. Just mentioning it.

That is what the members here do for each other. And we are glad you joined us.

If you look at the Dobyns XP model DC 735C tht is a 7'3 Med/HVY rod that rates 1/4 to 1 1/2 oz baits. It is available in your choice of split cork handle and full cork handle. That is right near your 7'2" preference. Of course my personal frog/pitching rod is the DC 705C which is a 7' "it is considered mag heavy in flipping pitching ratings, Dobyns has different ratings for different categories of rods. I wish you lived close to Baltimore as I would happily put the rod in your hands.

Ordering into Canada can be a hassle. I have helped another member here get a Powell rod. Found out that Tackle Warehouse can be helpful as they regularly ship into Canada. He lived in Toronto. Where are you located. Mu only fishing experience came way back in 1988 when my then girlfriend/new wife and I spent 10 days in Calgary. Two of those days Linda and I fly fished the Bow River for big rainbows and browns. That sunshine till almost midnight took some getting used to. LOL. We were there during the summer after the Olympics were held there. So cool to walk around and watch the Canadian team work out on the facilities. Anyway with a budget like that I would consider a Daiwa Tatula CT, or a Daiwa Tatula SV TWS. I prefer these reels to Shimano, but if you were content with the Shimanos then look at a reel like a Chronarch MGL, or a Curado 200K. That is their new model. The old model is on sale so that might be an option. You will have to get some advice on the Shimano reels from a Shimano guy as I sold off all my Shimanos within the last 4 years, I did just cast one of the MGLs and that was nice. It belonged to another member here that was having trouble adjusting it in order to get to stop backlashing. It only took me about 5 minuted to properly set it up and explain to him what i did. It took a few castsd till he was almost hitting the house behind mine. For a rod I would look at a Dobyns Champion XP model DC 734 as an all around rod, You could also look at another G Loomis too.

First welcome to the forums. You will find many members happy to give their best advice. It also helps to use the search box and see questions and answers that have already been given in the past. Micro guides are supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread, not so much. They do control the line better, but I do not believe it results in the longer cast they were designed to achieve. I find them much harder to string up in a hurry. I own 3 or 4, but I never made the choice of that rod because of them. Now, you never mentioned your budget, and of course you also did not mention your preferred length. So here are some suggestions from different price ranges. All of these rods will have a powerful graphite blank with a very soft fast tip which is exactly what is needed when fishing frogs. Because we fish frogs and flip in heavy cover you need a powerful rod to hook and land a bass in the jungle (dense weeds or lily pads), The problem is the lure we throw there is a hollow bodied frog that weighs less than 5/8 of an ounce usually. Here is where that special tip comes in. That has to load up and throw the frog a long way as well as be soft enough to properly work that lure. For a rod costing less than $100 take a look at an Abu Garcia Veritas 2 Frog rod. It is 7'6" long and is built as a frog rod. It runs $80. Above that price but below $200 look at these rods. I am partial to Dobyns, Powells and Irods, so many of my suggestions are going to be from them. Your next choice would be a Dobyns Fury FR705C for $110. This is a great intro rod series from Gary Dobyns. It fishes much more like other brands rods costing up to $200. Next i would look at a Powell Max 3D 736 CEF Frog Mag Heavy. It runs $160. Irod has a rod series called the Genesis II and a frog rod called an IRG754C "The Fred's Magic Stick". It runs $150. For rods above that $200 range you could look at my frog rod. I can only fit a 7 footer in my rod box, so I went with a Dobyns Champion XP series model DC 705C. It work great for me, Gary usually suggests the DC 735C. It has a really nice taper and is his best choice, but he extra 3 inches was a hassle for me to travel with. There are plenty of other options out there but I personally have fished with these rods or know someone who is. I hope this helps.

First i see you are a new member. Congratulations. You will find lots of members happy to help you here. I am a 40 year addict to this hobby and so is my wife. Our favorite spinning rods are G Loomis too. We both own G Loomis classic series SJR 721 and 722 rods in GL3 and IMX graphite. We also own some 2 piece 7 footers that handle smallie bait terrific. For a very dependable and easy to use baitcasting reel look at a Daiwa Tatula CT. For an all around gear ratio try either a 6.3-1 or 7.3-1 in either left or right hand retrieve. I happen to fish with some of each. For rods take a good look at rods from Dobyns, Irod, and Powell. I know you said you do not mind spending some money. Here is where I could use some help. What rod and reel did you get to fish with? If you know what brand, model or length and specs. Was it a medium action, medium heavy or heavy? What lures did you fish with and what lures are you looking forward to fishing with? Next is budget. I recommended a Daiwa Tatula CT, that reel runs between $100 and $130 depending on where you purchase it. As for a rod, are you looking for a rod under $125, between $125 and $200 or more in the $200 to $400 range? With these answers I can make more specific suggestions.

I used to fish some St Croix Premier rods. I really liked them originally until I was introduced to Irod Genesis rods, Dobyns rods and Powell rods. To me I became much more comfortable with these three brands and I sold off all of my ST Croix rods. As far as I know none of the large brand rods like St Croix, G Loomis, Shimano, Diawa etc have any type of a program like Dobyns does.

Sorry in my opinion the 702 in any Dobyns line will be too light. Dobyns rods run a little lighter compared to some other brands rods. If I wanted a medium action rod ( most closely to what I think you have but atouch lighter I would get a Fury FR703 SF, or a Sierra SA 703SF. The rod I was suggesting would have been a step up in power. I was suggesting it because you would like to use the new rod for both bass and walleye. This 704 will handle lighter baits but also some walleye specific techniques and baits.

Here is a heads up on the Berkley Lightning Rod Shock. That rod is very versatile. I fish 2 of them in 6'6 Medium baitcasting. I use it to catch bass and stripers. In the area we fish there are plenty of cats so it is not unusual to catch a big blue or channel cat too. My wife fishes one 6'6 medium Shock spinning rod. Both handle well. If you go into your local Wal Mart you should find these rods marked $49. Take it to the register for a price check. That rod has been found to be on an unmarked clearance by a few of our members. They got them for $15. Juts wanted to make you aware. It is a good rod for $49 but a great buy at $15. There is nothing wrong with the MH versions either, I only have experience with the medium model.

It sounds like you are an awesome DAD!!! The memories you and your son are making will last forever for both of you. Today we too often think money is the most valuable commodity, the truth is TIME is the most valuable commodity. Since you are "spending: yours with him, he naturally learns he is the most important thing in your lives. I turned 55 this month and can barely remember my really early youth, but I remember the first time my DAD and Grandpa took me fishing. I remember catching my first fish, a bluegill. I also remember a bad cast that day that caught my own jacket hood! LOL. Keep spending that time, I agree I think you will end up with a big one soon. Good Fishing.

MDBassin I have several ideas for you I use a Dobyns Champion XP model DC 705C. When I was making up my mind I chose the 7 footer because I can not get a 7'3" in my rod box. Of course Gary said the DC 735C was the correct rod to go with for frogs, but the action is not that noticeable if I had never fished the 735. You are more than welcome to cast my 705C and see what you think. This model rod is also offered in the Sierra series, but the graphite in a Sierra rod is a slower, so I am not sure a Sierra is a good answer for a frog rod. It might feel soft or not as quick tipped. There is my second idea, Dobyns has a Savy "factory rep sample" SSM 705C rod that is being sold as new for only $100 and I believe that includes shipping ( it would take a call to be sure). My understanding is that the Savvy rods have a quicker graphite blank more like the Fury and Champions.

The rod you describe would be a 703SF in the Dobyns lineup. However if you like your present rod, maybe look at a tiny bit different rod. Take a look at a Dobyns Sierra SA 704SF, it does not exist in the Fury line sorry. It is the next step up in the lineup. Might make a super smallie/walleye/ largie rod. My wife fishes a Sierra SA 705SF for frogs, that is the next step up from the 704SF. She absolutely loves it. It balances well, cast terrific and feel awesome in her hand. If you did go this way you would "add to" rather than just "upgrade" a rod in your rod arsenal. Since a lot of walleye and smallies eat the same food I would think this rod should work well for your multi species needs. It advertised as a good for jigs, floating worms, texas rigs, flukes and Sencos and other baits. I would bet it would handle a crawler rig great since it suggests "light carolina rigs". That should be true of a jig and minnow too. If you notice, the rod suggests using baits like poppers, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, so I would think your typical Rapala floater/diving minnows and the Jigging Raps should be good on it too. These baits weigh between 5/16 to 7/8 of an ounce ( except for tiniest one which only weighs 1/8 of an ounce) and that falls in the 1/4 to 1 ounce rating.

For big swimbaits lots of guy go for traditional round reels. They do this for line capacity and drag capability. It is the same choice most musky fisherman make. You could look at at Shimano Cardiff, or Calcutta series, there are several. Diawa offers the TD Luna and the Millionaire Classic. Of course Abu Garcia has had many reels in the Ambassadeur lineup. Both Lews and Okuma carry some as well. I think this is one of those times I would have to do some research and try some reels on my rod to find the one I like and fits best together.

GrumpyoldPhartte mentioned getting a Lews combo. That is a good idea. If you go on Dicks Sporting Goods website they have a $20 off coupon on orders over $100. There is two Lews combos available. They have a Lews Mach 1 and a Lews Mach 2 combo. The Lews Mach 2 is nicer but is more expensive of course. If you look at a Mach one it comes with a nice 6'10" IM8 graphite rod and a good all metal 9 ball bearing reel. It is available with the handle on the left or right. The price is $129 so if you use their coupon you could get it for $109. They also offer free shipping, however many times you can order it inline and pick it up in store. i would check on these options

If you do not have the right places to fish heavy jigs or punch I would suggest selling it and getting a good frog rod. Consider the Irod Genesis II IRG 754 Fred's magic stick or a Dobyns Fury FR 735C. My frog rod is a Champ series 705C just because I can not fit a 7'3 rod in my rod locker. It works great but if I could fit the longer rod I would go for the 7'3" to 7'5" Both of the rods I suggest were designed to do exactly what you are looking for.

I just wanted to post a follow up. For those that read a lot of the postings here, take advantage of meeting up with other BR members close by. I had a great day recently. We did meet up at our local tackle shop, Anglers Express. We discussed a lot of baits, rigging, and fishing techniques between ourselves and with some really good anglers that work in the store. Billy had the opportunity to play with a bunch of different brand rods too. Not ones you see in BP, Dicks or Cabelas. We went back to my home and for me I got to cast my first Dobyns Champion Extreme rod, as well as cast two different reels I had never played with. This Diawa felt really solid and cast sweet on the 703 Extreme. Then he pulled out his Kistler/ MGL combo. I had an older white E7 Chronarch but never played with the newer MGL. I helped him get it properly adjusted and modified his casting a touch and he nearly hit my neighbors house across the little stream behind my house. He then got the chance to throw some of my rod/reel combos, including my Dobyns Champion XP 705C with a Daiwa Tatula CT. This is my frog rod. This was his first experience with a reel that had Mag force Z breaks. He immediately felt the difference in how it must be setup.. All in all it was nice to meet you Billy. When I am cleared by my docs to go fish I will certainly invite you out on my boat. Then we can really experiment with some new baits with you and hopefully catch some nice bass too.

Wdy Crankbait What do you like about your old Endurance over the Max 3D? I have an original Powell Max 683CF which I love. I was curious what you disliked about the MAX3D? Have you fished an Inferno?

Well my suggestion would be this. I would look at the specs for the line you are thinking of using. If that is Power Pro spectra the 50 pound test would be equal to a line like a 12 pound mono. It would work but i would prefer 20 or 30 pound Power Pro Spectra. it is still pretty strong but equal to only 6 or 8 pound mono ( diameter wise).

Cool Those are nice rods. I am going to suggest doing a test since I have never tried this line before. It might be just what you are looking for. Try a spool of Gliss Supersmooth Monotex Line Yellow. Tackle Warehouse has it on sale for $14.99 for a 150 yard spool. Throw on some Stren mono or something for backing and that spool should fill two reels. Here is the kicker Line Diameter 8lb 12lb 18lb 24lb 40lb Inches .004 .005 .006 .007 .010 Millimeters .102 .127 .152 .178 .254

Lets start over with some answers. OP you said your target fish are large steelhead. Most of the anglers here are thinking about the typical bass gear. That means a rod built with the typical bass tapers, not something built for steelhead. The reels most of us use are the typical 1000 to 3000 ( Shimano terms) or between a 25 to 35 size reel for most other brands. For a hard running fish like that I would be using a 4000 or 40 series reel. A typical 2500 size reel will not likely have a drag to handle that fish. Musky fisherman use Musky gear. A musky rod does not resemble a bass rod by much. If you look at the typical salt water spinning reel and rod, they have much larger spools to accommodate the extra line needed and they have much larger drags to fight heavy fast running fish. So having said all this please answer a few questions. Are hard running stealhead a major part of your target species? What rod and reel are you using now? What line brand and pound test is giving you trouble?

I like CXX but I mostly use it for leaders. The CXX line has some" memory issues" so it requires occasional "line management". In English that means laying the rod in the Y of a tree and backing off the star drag so I can walk the line out without hitting the spool release button and making a whopper of a backlash. Once I walk out much more than I can cast I take a rag ( usually a micro fiber towel) and holding the line with good pressure I walk down the line straightening out the curls. I may do this twice or three times. I like to then reset the star drag and begin reeling in the line. This is a good time to apply some line conditioner. This works well and should help if you go this way. i am told Berkley Big Game in 10 or 12 works too. My top water rod is a dedicated topwater combo so I have 17 pound Stren clear blue original mono on it. For my crank rod I like P Line Floroclear in 12 pound test. It is a copolymer line with a fluoro coating.

Millennials need bling, loud splashes of color to hold their attention even long enough to spend money! Have you seen the color of the Winn grips and body on the new Lews reels. It is almost like a burnt orange. It actually looks cool. You should be able to have it stand out in a dark rod locker.

I must have been too tired to catch my mistake last night. I meant to suggest the Irod IRG703CC, the Falcon Bucoo Trap Caster and a Dobyns Fury FR 705CB. There is no 705C in the Fury line, but it is a bottom contact/ frog rod in the other series it does exist in. So if I was going to buy one, I would probably choose between the Fury 705CB( crank bait) and the Irod 703CC. I like these two rods the best. Both rods are 7 foot long, have equally good blanks with very good action for fishing all of my first category of cranks. They big difference between them is the components installed. The guides are good on both rods. All of the Genesis II Irods have the exact look to them. The EVA is a top quality version that is super comfortable. The Dobyns is actually about $40 less, but uses a part cork handle/part EVA split handle. Both parts of the split handle are high quality. It is personal preference. There is no mistake or wrong answer here. By the way I did not realize how expensive that Shimano reel was normally. Check this out on Tackle Warehouse. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Shimano_Curado_200_I_Casting_Reel/descpage-SCI.html That is a good deal if it close to being the reel you want. I am not sure what the difference between a 200 and a 201 series is.

Here is that Tatula CT for $98,69 with free shipping. I usually pay a little more and get mine shipped a little quicker. This is one of the places others were talking about when they said it could be found for under $100. I have purchased 3 Tatula CT reels at different times from ABCD on Amazon. You can trust them to deliver what they say they will. https://www.amazon.com/Daiwa-TACT100H-TATULA-Baitcast-Black/dp/B01CUWGKAO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1499892856&sr=8-3&keywords=daiwa+tatula+ct This is a brand new Daiwa Tatula CT model TACT 100H, which is the 6.3-1 reel I use this a my all purpose reel. I actually fish 4 Daiwa Tatula Type R and 2 Tatula CTs ( these are the newer versions) and 1 Daiwa Exceler. The Exceler was replaced by the Fuego. I trust all of these reels to perform terrifically all of the time and they do. If you fill that reel with a line like 30 pound Suffix 832 braid, 14 pound P Line Floroclear, or 12 pound Berkley Big Game then you will have a nice combo. Another option https://www.overstockbait.com/Daiwa-Exceler-100-Baitcasting-Reel-p/exe100ha.htm For a rod consider a 7' MH Berkley Lightning Shock rod. I fish the medium moderate version for crankbaits and rattle trap baits. Sometimes you can go into Walmart and find one marked for $49. Take it to the checkout counter. There have been some on unmarked clearance and they sold for $15.

Jeff H I have only fished 4 Cabelas rods, so no not all of them. I still fish 2 Tourney Trail IM7 rods when I troll for white perch. Those, along with the Daiwa Accu Depth line counter reels, make a very nice weapon to troll with. They do really well on walleye, and white perch. The other Cabela rods belonged to a couple of anglers I took out on my boat for some bass and striper fishing. After fishing many brands I have come to really like most of the Dobyns, Powells, and Irods. I believe they give a very good value for their price range. My Dobyns are in their higher Sierra and Champion lines. I do have a friend fishing 4 Dobyns Fury rods and I have fished with 2 out of the four, and cast the other 2. I have nothing against the Cabelas rods, just like I still fish a few Bass Pro extremes. However I have seen the Fury rods fish very well and thought I would express that opinion.