IndianaFinesse

I am looking at getting a dobyns savvy for bottom contact baits, (jigs, t-rigs, tubes, etc.) but I've been reading very mixed reviews on how sensitive it is. Some say it feels dead, while others love it. So what's your opinion? Is the fury any better?

I didn't even know they made a 7/8 ounce buzzbait, the heaviest one I own is 3/8 and I usually throw ~1/4 ouncers. You're gonna have to really burn that baby, I think you might do better with a lighter bait especially with that rod.

If for some unexplainable reason you follow that annoying bug in your ear telling you to forfeit the prize, please forfeit it in my direction.

It starts again at 11:30 et. Kicking myself for swapping Seth Felder out for iaconnelli the night before the tournament.

Yep, even though the mold I use has a slot for keepers, I don't even use it anymore. I always ended up getting frustrated with the wire keeper and glueing it back on anyways. My big problem with the regular finesse shroomzs wire keeper is that it always broke off within a few hours.

Fishing's been hit or miss lately. Not so good on Monday or Tuesday, only about three bass an hour each day, but very good (compared to recent trips) on Wednesday and fairly good today. Caught 28 in about five hours on Wednesday, with 11 keepers for a 14 pound limit. Some on frogs underneath docks, some on shallow cranks on points, some on deep cranks, and the majority on a shaky head offshore. Also caught two channel cats, one eight pounder on a crank and the other 5 pounder on a shaky head. The 5 was a male guarding either tiny fry or eggs, I could see him guarding something on a concrete slab. First cat i've ever seen on a bed or caught sight fishing. Today I was out for about 4.5 hours, and caught 21 bass with 7 fish over 15 inches. Best five weighed 12 pounds or so. Almost all of them on shallow cranks burned on points, only a couple on shaky heads offshore.

Has anyone bought any refurbished dobyns rods, direct from dobyns? I was wanting to know how common it is to get a rod with a damaged blank ie weather they're worth the risk. I was specifically looking at the fury and savvy's.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I've decided on the fr735c for the rod, and I think I'm going to save a little longer so i can pair it with a curado 70.

I don't plan on even trying them, and that's coming from a hardcore ned guy that has tried every mushroom jig head on the market. The hook is to thick for the lite rods and line, plus I don't see that keeper working for elaztech.

I can't just pick one, so how about my favorite in each category. The pop-r in the true popper category, pop x in walking popper, junior spook and arashi top walker, booyah pad crasher frog, accent game changer buzzbait, and 90 sized whopper plopper.

Here's my must have cranks, a kvd 1.0 and 1.5, bandit 100, rapala shallow shad rap and regular shad rap, DT 10, 5xd, and a dd little john. Smithswick rogues, lc pointers, and megabass vision 110's for jerks. The original spook, arashi top walker, and pop-r for hard plastic tops. Bill lewis rattle trap and redeye shad for lipless cranks. There is no consensus on which ones are best, but these are what I have settled on as my favorites.

Rip the legs off and replace them with a skirt. Much better that way, I do that with all of my pocket frogs.

Thanks for all of the replies everyone. One more quick question, is the 735c to stiff to throw junior sized pad crashers? I've never purchased a mag-heavy rod before, but the dobyns I've felt all had soft tips. BTW, I got a message from a shimano rep asking where I got the discount, thinking it was from an inside source. I wanted to clear things up and say that it isn't, shimano sponsors my club and gives the members a 40% off code to use on their site. I think it's pretty cool to see that they're watching our forums.

I'm set on A (very risky pick) D, and C but can't decide on B or E. Going back and forth between Seth Felder and mike iaconnelli, and Skylar Hamilton and Chris zaldian.

Punctuation might make it easier to read and understand.

Thanks, do you think it's to stiff for 1/4 ounce frogs? That's what I will be using it for 95% off the time. Some larger frogs and flipping/pitching to though. The 40% off is site wide, direct from shimano.

I recently broke my frog rod, and I am looking to upgrade my set up while I have the excuse. I already decided on the rod, a dobyns fury, either a 735c or a 734c. I would normally go with the 734c, but the dobyns rods seem to have a nice soft tip which helps throw smaller baits. Looking to mostly throw junior sized pad crashers (1/4 oz.), very rarely a full sized frog. Which one? I am much less decided on the reel, all I know is I would prefer a shimano (I can get them for 40% off and I really like them). I have a soft budget of 100$ after the discount, but would like to spend less if possible, but I can go a little higher if I have to. I would much rather spend less though. It has to be very low profile and throw 1/4 ounce pad crashers with ease. Which model would you recommend?

Sorry it took so long to get the state championship tournament on Monroe report in, I was busy catching big bass and pike up in Michigan. It was last week on Sunday. On tournament morning we idled off in a blaze of glory (we launched from a ramp next to a causeway in the nowake zone), always rather anticlimactic when your adrenaline's going. Started out throwing topwater around the causeway and picked up a nice three pound even keeper on a frog, nice to get that first fish in the boat early. Caught a dozen or so short fish along the causeway on assorted topwater and shallow cranks, no more keepers. Went upriver to some spots we found in prefishing, caught about two dozen short 12-13.75 inch fish on shallow and middepth cranks. Got out of the slow side around noon with only one keeper in the live well, and tried a few offshore spots. No dice there, and with a little less than an hour and a half left we went to plan D and found some mats to throw frogs on. Caught one two pounder on the first mat we fished right off the bat, and then broke the tip off my frog rod on a stupid cast. Had to swap over to a 6'6" medium powered spinning rod with 8 pound braid after that, which kinda messed up my hooking/landing percentage a bit. Got about five or six more bites after that, all while running other mats in similar areas. Didn't connect on anything else. Went back to the weigh in, and it turns out only two limits were weighed! Our 5.03 pounds got us an 11th place finish, a very solid finish for the state championship in my book. Prizes went down past or place to, so that was cool. Another thing a learned was that the club with the highest weight in the state finals gets two tickets to the national championship, and even though our club only had three teams qualify (many had 5-7) we all made the top 12 and one team won it. Not entirely sure how the lucky teams are chosen, aoy points, placement in the state, or if the club president picks. But we do have some chance of getting a coveted ticket, not a big one as both other teams have a higher aoy (one of them only because we missed a tournament because of motor problems). Would be pretty awesome if we did make it.

I like the little john dd 3/4 ounce crank for the 16-18 foot depth, I don't fish any deeper than that. 5xd gets the 12-15 foot depths, and the rapala DT 10 or 3xd get the 8-12 foot depths.

I don't know enough to advise you on the price, but I will say that you won't be making any money off it. What model outboard does it have? I bought a rig similar to how that is now (~1963 StarCraft mod-V hull with two cheapo depth finders, life jackets, trailer with rollers, a battery, gas can, two anchors and ropes, 36 pound thrust new trolling motor, and a ~1990 evenrude 9.9 motor. Although in think it is a 15 with a 9.9 cover, but it has a 15 cover anyways now but that's a different story) for 1200. Just a gage, look around at similar boats and what they sold for and average them. Remember, it probably won't be worth what you put into it and it's only worth what someone will pay for it.

Largemouth.

Hehe, I do a lot of that. I figure if they're there, I'm going to either catch them quick or not at all. If I'm not catching fish, I don't give a spot more than 20 minutes or less.

I have one, and I love it. I used to hate netting fish, they always got so tangled up in it. Now I net almost every fish, no tangles at all and are easier on the fishes slime coat.

You call that a tough lake in Wisconsin? I finished in 11th in the state championship tournament with only 5.03 pounds lol, that's what we call a tough lake. Only two teams had a limit.

I forgot my password lol, and my email address changed so I can't use the 'forgot my password" button, so I had to create another account. Still the same name, so I'll just add my points to what I will get.