I need a stiffer rod for fishing the thick stuff next year. I'm basically set on the Expride 7'3" Extra Heavy, as I prefer shorter rods, and this seems to be the best rod I can find for what I want to do. I'd love a 7 foot XH but alas, you don't always get what you want. I am curious about the Dobyns Champion Extreme line, though, and I'd love the 746C. It's just $70 more than the Expride which is already up there in price.

 

Assuming 20% off both rods, which one should I go for? Anything that would make the Dobyns a better buy at $349 vs Expride at $279? Lighter weight? Better warranty? Better balance?

 

Thanks!

Also interested as I'm looking into the expride 

Expride 73XH is sweet! I'd opt for the Expride

On 11/25/2019 at 10:38 PM, Stephen B said:

Expride 73XH is sweet! I'd opt for the Expride

I'd think you can punch and heavy jig with it as well? 

1 hour ago, Chief250 said:

I'd think you can punch and heavy jig with it as well? 

Yup.

 

I ended up going with the Expride; it's cheaper and I know they're very sensitive and lightweight. I considered just scrapping the idea and continuing to use my 7' HXF Helium3 but I know I could benefit from a stiffer rod because we get so many weeds in the summer here. If you're frogging here you're almost always gonna be dragging a fish through junk, no way around it. It will be mostly for frogging, but I will definitely punch with it as well with 1oz bullet weights.

3 minutes ago, bwjay said:

Yup.

 

I ended up going with the Expride; it's cheaper and I know they're very sensitive and lightweight. I considered just scrapping the idea and continuing to use my 7' HXF Helium3 but I know I could benefit from a stiffer rod because we get so many weeds in the summer here. If you're frogging here you're almost always gonna be dragging a fish through junk, no way around it. It will be mostly for frogging, but I will definitely punch with it as well with 1oz bullet weights.

Yeah the thick grass is a lot to deal with for a regular heavy, especially a 7 footer 

15 hours ago, Chief250 said:

I'd think you can punch and heavy jig with it as well? 

Absolutely. It is an awesome rod!

3 hours ago, Efishin said:

Absolutely. It is an awesome rod!

I already have too many ahhhhh. I do need to fill a gap between my heavys, and swimbait rod though. That is xh expride seems to fit right in 

I just picked up the expride 73XH as well. Black Friday sale on tackle warehouse. Should be here Wednesday. Can’t wait to try it out. 

My 73XH showed up today, and I have to say I am very pleased!! The rod weighs in at 4.7oz, pretty light for its power and length I think! And, get this..... the balance is awesome with a Bantam, awesome for how long and high power it is, anyway. It balances maybe an inch in front of the reel seat screw. What's crazy is, though my Helium3s are a little tip heavy, the 7'HXF Helium3 at 4oz is less balanced with a Bantam than this 7'3XHF Expride at 4.7oz with the same Bantam. Longer rod, heavier power, and it's more balanced?!? Incredible... I think I will be able to frog and flip with this for hours on end.

 

I also think I got what I wanted, a stiffer rod for ripping lures free from weeds, as the Helium3 HXF just bends too deep when you really get stuck. The Expride is far more stiff; when twitching the rod as if I were walking a topwater, all of my Helium3s do a big exaggerated wobbly dance, while the Expride has a much-abbreviated wobble that doesn't travel as far down the blank and wobbles for about half the time of the Helium3 7'HXF. It would seem that the Expride is definitely a stiffer rod. My hope is that it's not so stiff that fish come unbuttoned; I will probably have to fine-tune my drag to allow for head shakes and body rolls without unloading the rod. At least the stiffness will help with burying big frog/jig hooks! Besides the mostly minor concern about keeping fish pinned, I'm very excited about this rod, and it's going to be hard to let it sit around for the next 5 months while I wait for spring, and even then, it's for fishing summer junk, so I will have to wait more like 6-7 months to put it to use. At least I know I'm well-equipped!

 

Oh, and I had a dream last night about breaking this Expride too. Broke the top 12 inches off the rod by shutting a door on it or something dumb. Clearly I am concerned after cracking my first Expride with a Ned head coming out of a tree at 100mph. Let's hope I don't do something as careless with this one! I'm leaving it in the rod tube until it's time to fish it...