kayaking_kev

It's hard, but very thin, not near as thick as PVC. I do have some concerns that it could even shatter if it hits against something hard enough due to them being mostly hollow inside and being very thin, but that's what probably makes them so sensitive.

Correct. And, the Bushido isn't as gray as the pic made it appear, my camera had the flash on. It will also look better when the trim pieces are inserted on them.

It's hard to beat Dobyns as a total package. They have great balance that competes with any priced rod, they have a top notch warranty and customer service, and for being assembled in China, they have great build quality. And, I will always love the way Dobyns rods looks. They are lighter in hand than they are on the scales due to the great balance, and the sensitivity might not be #1, but it's sufficient and pretty subjective. Some love the softer tip action and some will hate it. I've owned 14 Dobyns rods and I tend to stay away from the heavier powers, because they do get a bit heavier. My favorites are the 2 & 3 Power Casting rods and the 4 & 5 Power Cranking rod. The 5 and 6 Casting Powers all felt heavier than what I wanted with the exception of the Xtasy 755c, but I question if it was even a Heavy Power, much less Mag Heavy as rated, the diameter of the blank looked like a Medium. The MH Xtasy 723c has basically turned into my finesse rods for throwing as light as 1/10 Ned Rigs, so the powers are off quite a bit. If I had to rank the Dobyns I've owned it would go something like this. Xtasy 723c Xtasy 755c Extreme HP 702c Champion XP 704cb Glass Champion XP 705cb Glass Champion XP 734c Champion XP 704sf Kaden 744c Fury 703c Sierra 735c Fury 663c Fury 702sf Champion XP 736cb Glass Champion 634cb I would personally try to get at least the Sierra series so it makes the Warranty a bit more worth it if you ever have to use it. But, I believe there's a big jump from the Champion XP to the Extreme HP, and I would personally choose my bottom contact and finesse rod from there and a crankbait rod from any of the other series. The Power rod would be the tough one for me to complete in an arsenal because like I said I feel that's where they get a bit too heavy for me, when the competition has much lighter options available. The Glass rods are nice, but the 5 power was my limit on them, the 736cb weighed in at 6 oz. and that wasn't going to cut it. Out of all those Dobyn rods I only have the Xtasy 723, Champion XP 704cb Glass, & Fury 663c left. One more thing to add. Southern guys with bigger fish and baits are going to tell you the 4 power is the most versatile rod, but I think a lot of Northern guys who also fish for Smallmouth will find the 3 Power more versatile. I love the 3 Power.

I can't quite help you with the functionality of those handle options yet, but I have recently bought all of them. I have the G2 Carbon Full Handle for the X-Ray MB-736 and have it installed already, but haven't fished with it yet. I have the G2 Carbon Split Grip Handle for the X-Ray MB-733 as a spinning rod and it's dry fitted right now, but I'm waiting to receive the G2 trim fittings that I had to order after dry fitting and measuring the blank to get get the right size. The G2 Full Handle comes with the trim fittings already, the G2 Split Grip Handle, you have to order them separately. I have the CFX Full Handle Grips for a X-Ray MB-7109 build, but have not started building it yet. I have the black Split Grip Winn Grips I just put on a Phenix X-10 Composite build a couple of days ago, but have not fished with it yet. ---------------------------------------------- I can give you some of my initial impressions and thoughts on them though. The G2 Handles seem like they will be the most sensitive just by going by some small testing. The full grip handles only have two small arbor rings inside and the rest is hollow inside and the split grips only have one small arbor ring in each section. It reduces weight and I think reflects vibration better than any other type of handle by far. But, they have their down sides. They have no grip and might get slippery when wet. The other downside is you need a AT G2 reel seat, which are awesome, but don't come in specific id sizes. So I had to get an insert for them because I wanted the exposed reel seats. Now, on one of them I didn't use an insert, but instead used a Carbon Fiber Rod Skin with some finish on top to make it thick enough so the reel seat fit tightly. FYI, I have the G2 CCT Razor and Blade Carbon reel seats, which are the best two offered and while both are awesome, the Razor is the bomb. As far as the CFX Handles goes, those are the only ones I haven't reamed out and at least dry fitted yet, but they look nice, have some grip to them and are light, so I'm sure I'm going to like them and I don't see much of a down side to them. Winn Grips of course are going to give you the most grip and they look pretty good too, but I think they will be the less sensitive out of the three, hence why I put them on my crankbait rod. They were also the messiest to ream out and I had to keep cleaning my reamer. My thoughts were to put the G2 Carbons on my two setup that I wanted the most sensitivity out of, MB-736 and MB-733. I wanted some comfort, but still wanted that sensitivity for my power rod, so I went with the CFX. For my crankbait rod I wanted grip more so than sensitivity, especially with it being the rod that will be in my kayak 100% of the time and the probability that it will get wet the most. Plus it will be my jerkbait rod for now and I don't want a slippery handle for that technique. So for me they all have their advantages, with the CFX kind of being the middle ground with both grip and sensitivity. But, if you asked my wife, she would choose the Winn Grips because she likes the way they feel. Top to bottom X-Ray MB-7109 Blank CFX Full Handle Grip + EC-22 Butt Cap + AT G2 Vibe Reel Seat + Fuji Alconite Guides, Spiral Wrapped ( Awaiting G2 Insert for Vibe Reel Seat) Phenix X-10 Composite Blank + Spit Grip Winn Grips + AT G2 CCT Razor Reel Seat + G2 Insert + G2 Carbon Foregrip Sleeve + Fuji SiC Guides X-Ray MB-733 + G2 Carbon Split Grip (Bushido) + AT CCT AERO Reel Seat + Fuji Titanium SiC Guides ( Awaiting Trim Fittings for Handle) X-Ray MB-736 + G2 Carbon Full Handle 9" (Matte) + AT CCT Blade Reel Seat + Carbon Fiber Rod Skin under Reel Seat + G2 Carbon Foregrip Sleeve + Fuji Titanium Torzite Guides, Spiral Wrapped

It depends on if you're going to be throwing 3/8 oz and under or 1/2 oz most of the time and your normal hook set. If you're throwing mostly 1/2 oz then get the 4 power, if you only occasionally throw a 1/2 oz then get a 3 power. I mention your hook set also because Dobyns rods need a little more swing in the hook set with the softer tips. So if you don't like big hook swings on hook sets then you might prefer a 4 power over the 3 power, which would take a little less swing to reach the backbone and drive the hooks through on a T-Rig or Jig.

Yes, but Shimano, Daiwa, Megabass and maybe some others discounts won't show up until you receive the confirmation email. They will appear as the normal price during checkout, but you will be charged the discounted price. It's like this every year.

$183.99 showed up in the email invoice only, not in the checkout. It says back ordered until Dec. 15th, but as long as it gets here before March, I'm good.

Got my TW order placed already! Shimano Vanford 2500 5x GoPro 8 Batteries Whopper Plopper Size 60 Perch Color Red Eye Shad 1/4 oz Owner Stinger x3 Replacement Treble Hooks Hopefully a nice spinning reel along with the X-Ray MB-733 I'm building will get me to fish with spinning gear a little more.

My shipping was quick, but I have been ignored on several emails and facebook messages whenever I have tried to contact them. I'm going to try to call tomorrow, as I assume they aren't open today.

I use Rodhouse to double check the tip sizes and the other two X-Ray blanks that I got fit the the tip tops I got for them. Plus, you can tell the tip is messed up because I get a caliber reading of 2.9mm at the very tip, but a measurement of 2.4mm just 3/4" down from the tip, so I'm confident I had the right size. Thanks for the advice, that's what I will probably do. I have seen people use dremel saws, hack saws, and files to cut blanks, but all I really have it a jig saw with a fine tooth blade that seem to cut an old blank pretty good when I turned it into a DIY reamer, so do you think I would be ok using the jigsaw to make the cut?

I got the rest of my components for my 4 builds the other day and just went to try on a tip top on one of the 3 X-Ray blanks I bought, the MB-7109, but I noticed it appears to have some damage that's making the tip top not fit. The tip top is supposed to be 2.4mm and that's what I bought, but after seeing that it wasn't fitting I measured it with digital calibers and got 2.9mm, but less than an inch down from the top it measures 2.4mm. It almost looks like the tip was jammed and compacted a bit which increased the diameter at the tip. I don't know what NFC's return policy is, but I really would like to avoid it if possible. Is there anyway I can make this work with the tip top that I already have. As I said, it's 2.4mm about 3/4 of an inch down from the tip, and I'm not against cutting that much off the tip because it's a very stout rod as it is and I think I can live with the change in action, as I'm already going to cut 4" from the butt. I'm worried though that the 2.4mm tip top still won't fit if I do cut that 3/4" off. That's one option I have been thinking about. The other is wanting to know if I could somehow sand the tip down a little to make it fit my tip top. I'm open to ideas, any help would be appreciated.

That's pretty quick, even for Asian Portal. I got a SLX MGL 70 when they first came out back in the Spring and a Metanium MGL B several months ago and they always have the best prices and shipping has been pretty quick coming from Japan.

I've already spent $1100 on 3 X-Ray Blanks and 1 Phenix X10 Blanks + Torzite & SiC guides & G2 Carbon Handles for two, CFX Carbon Composite for one, & Winn Grip for another + Carbon reel seats & rod building materials, including a rod wrapper & dryer. I just received my last blank and the bulk of the components in the mail today, so it's going to be a busy month. I still need to get a Vanford spinning reel and some GoPro 8 batteries on the TW BF sale. And, if there is a good enough sale on an Old Town Sportsman 106 Powered by Minn Kota, I will probably ****** one up.

I made this post back in May, and this rod has became my main Whopper Plopper rod for throwing size 90 or 75, but it also does good with 3/8 oz - 1/2 oz crankbaits. I do back off my previous claim that it may be better than the Dobyns Sierra, and I think it's even debatable whether it's better than the Fury. The cork handle on mine is a little loose at the top and I don't feel much difference in sensitivity, but I do have a Tatula rod meant for crankbaits so it may be different feeling from a fast action Tatula. It's a nice rod for $100, but I wouldn't want to pay full price for it, I would rather have the warranty of the Sierra or Kaden.

I like Ugly Stik's, especially for a Whopper Plopper, but the jerkbait is one technique that wears on me and I'm not sure I would want to try it with a heavier rod.

It happens a lot with me with a Whopper Plopper and Smallmouth, so I will keep my thumb tight on the spool and sweep back to move the lure towards me as soon as it hits the water while I'm grabbing for the rod with my left hand and continue to sweep until I can switch my right hand to the handle and start reeling. That way I always have my lure moving in case it gets attacked as soon as it hits the water. But, if I was able to start all over I would try to start out with a left hand retrieve. The only bad thing I can see about is I have a paddle kayak for shallow rivers and I like to paddle one handed to position myself and have to be able to paddle with my right hand and hold the rod with my left hand. So if you're like me and use a paddle and paddle one handed while fighting a fish to position yourself out of danger sometimes, you might want to consider if you can paddle one handed with your left hand, I'm not able to myself due to a right side brain surgery.

Champion XP 734c or Kaden 744c for Jigs, T-Rigs, & Spinnerbaits. Fury 705CB or Fury 703c for Squarebills and Crankbaits Sierra 735c for Frogs I've owned all those rods. If you're just starting out, I would begin with left handed retrieve.

The biggest problem I see is that I don't see a squarebill/crankbait rod also being able to throw deep divers. I would consider a Medium Power rod for Squarebills and Crankbaits rather than a MH, depending on the manufacturer. Other than that, that's the 4 main combos I would start with Bottom, Finesse, Cranking, & Power. After those are taken care of then comes a Swimbait rod and maybe a shorter Jerkbait rod, but you can really go down the rabbit hole and get a dedicated rod for Chatterbaits and so on. I've went way down the rabbit hole and almost had a rod for every bait, but I came back up out of the hole and am now settling on about 5 main combos. I also agree about not getting a DC reel. They are heavy and not necessary and if you use setting 4 you will lose out on a lot of casting distance. There are a lot of good reels out there that are lighter and even cheaper that as long as you have the brakes and spool setup properly, you won't need to thumb the spool except to stop it when the lure hits the water. I believe Fishing Online has 30% off on reels and have a Tatula SV that you can get for $140.

I use a 6'6 rod for pretty much jerkbaits only, if you can get away with 6'10 for jerkbaits I would go with that for the added casting distance for the other lures, unless you are fishing tight places.

Yep, the 703 would work great with those baits. I loved it as a jerkbait rod, so I got the 663c also. I was also surprised how well it threw squarebills. I've had reels from 7.9 oz to 6.3 oz on mine and somehow it doesn't seem to affect the balance at all, it's still great.

For the 18' & 19' season I threw the WP out of kayak on small rivers for Smallies using a 6'0 Ugly Stik Gx2 Medium 2 piece with pistol grip and it always did a great job. I really like the shorter handles for kayaks, the overall length doesn't matter as much to me as long as I'm sitting high enough off the water, because I like to side cast. Sierra does have a 705c, but nothing shorter unfortunately.

The SLX heavier rods are poorly balanced. I have a Fury 663c, and the 664c will not handle heavy jigs or frogs and definitely not the 130 Whopper Plopper. You will need at least a 5 Power Dobyns. I had a Champion 736cb Glass and it could probably throw the WP 130 and deep crank, so I would think the 706cb should as well. The 736 was heavy though, weighing 6 oz. It sounds like you don't really deep crank that much so I might think about it going with one rod like a 5 Power for all of it. I've had two Dobyns 5 Powers, an Xtasy 755c & Sierra 735c, out of those two I would say the Sierra is better suited for what you are looking for. They have even more flex than other Dobyns series rods, and you can Jig, Frog and probably throw the WP 130 and get way with a little deep cranking with it. I have to say though, the 130 is huge and pushing the limits on a Dobyns rod rated up to 1.5 oz. I have every size of WP, including a 130 and have never even thrown it. Are you using it to fish for Musky or something? If not, the 110 is plenty of big enough for Bass, I usually stick with the 90 or 75 and will even be getting the new size 60 on BF. On a side note, Ugly Stick Gx2's really make good WP rods also if you wanted something cheap.

I have the Tatula 7'0" Medium Power / Regular Action, designed for Shallow Cranks & Topwaters. I use it mostly for the Whopper Plopper 90, but does pretty good with Jerkbaits and Crankbaits 3/8 & 1/2 oz. as well as Spinnerbaits & Chatterbaits. I have even thrown Neko Rigs, Ned Rigs and Finesse Jigs on it before and it did ok. The Regular Action is similar to Dobyns Fast Action. My complaint about the Tatula I have is that the Full Cork Handle seems to have a little give in it at the very top and moves a little when fighting a fish. It's probably just the Quality Control on my particular rod though. I was also expecting it to be lighter, but they are no where near as light as the OG Tatula was. Mine weighs 4.5 oz., which isn't bad at all, but the OG version was 3.8 oz. I'm also a little skeptical of the Fazelite Guides they have on them. But, overall it's not a bad rod for what I use it for. I will be selling it soon though.

I think most have already summed it up nicely. You can't catch what isn't there, so Location is the most important, followed by Timing, although I admittedly don't pay enough attention to Timing and just go fishing whenever I can . They will usually determine was Bait Type you use and that will give you your Presentation options for that bait and the fish will tell you which one they prefer. If you are in the right location at the right time presenting the right bait, a hungry fish isn't going to care too much about color. I bank fished yesterday here in cold Ohio for less than an hour at a medium size pond that has a bunch of big broken concrete slabs along two sections of the bank that extend almost 10 feet out in the water. We had about 5 days in the mid 70's last week before it got cold again, so I knew the fish would be around those rocks because they retain heat longer. So that limited my options to flipping style baits that I could bounce around and in the crevasses of the rocks. Sure enough I was able to catch 4 bass in less than an hour, including a decent 17". The Weather determined my Location. The Location determined my Bait. The Bait and Location determined my Presentation. I use the same 3 colors I always use, Junebug, Green Pumpkin, & Black.