kayaking_kev

No Problem! Gary Dobyns told me almost two weeks ago that a new Dobyns series is about to be released in a few weeks, so it should be anytime now. I know it has 7ft Panfish rods in it, but I'm not sure if it's going to be all panfish models or not, he wouldn't really divulge anymore information on them. I don't think it will be a higher end series than the Xtasy though and may just be a Panfish Series. Besides great rods, you can't beat Dobyns Customer Service. Gary himself will talk to you and make you feel like a friend. And, you can't beat the Warranty, he said he asked to see a receipt only once ever on a return, and you can send your rod in and get a good deal on a upgrade or different model.

Get a GLX and then a cheap Ugly Stik 6 ft Medium for kayaking. I have Dobyns Xtasy's, but will still most likely use my 6'0 Gx2 2 piece a lot when kayaking, it has great action for treble hook baits like the whopper plopper I usually throw when on a river. I don't know about you, but my rods take a ton of abuse while kayaking and it's a pain to also have to worry about protecting them and making sure you don't drop one in the water. I also find that for me the handle length is more important than the overall length of a rod. The Gx2 I use a lot has a pistol grip and that is perfect for a 6'0 rod. I've used a Dobyns Fury 703c and a Shimano SLX 7'2 MH and it can be quite tiresome with longer handles. They are 14,15 inches long and I think I would want as close to a 12" as possible, but they are hard to find on casting rods.

I was just in your same scenario a few days ago trying to decide between an Xtasy 755c and a NRX 894c and a Xtasy 723c or a Conquest 843c. I ended up choosing the Xtasy 755c and 723c. I also got a Extreme 702c along with those, but did a lot of research on the 744c, 745c, 746c. You can't go wrong with any of them, but the 745c would compare better to the Xtasy 755c. I talked to a guy who owns both and says the Xtasy 755c has a lot more power than the Extreme 745c, but is also lighter. I choose the Xtasy over the NRX for a few reasons. The main one being that while the NRX is a great rod and maybe still the most sensitive, it's an older rod now, while the Xtasy is more updated. The Xtasy has the best of everything, the NRX has the recoil guides. I've also heard a lot about suspect quality control with some NRX's. The Xtasy also looks a lot better than the NRX and I already had a few Dobyns rods and I love the balance of them. The NRX may or may not be as sensitive as the Xtasy, but if so we're talking about splitting hairs and the Xtasy has a lot better fighting power. But, I know there's still going to be that itch to try the NRX out and experience a legendary rod firsthand. If you think you just have to try a NRX, I'd say just get one now and get it over with, lol. Tough decisions, I know, but you really can't go wrong, even with an Extreme. I was planning for awhile to get the Conquest 843c, but come ordering time I went with the Xtasy 723c, simply because it was cheaper and I could get a decent reel too. Good Luck!

The best all around Dobyns rod is the Champion XP 734c and the Sierra 734c. The best all around rod may be the Shimano G.Loomis 843c MBR, but you can also get the 843c MBR in the GLX series. The best all around bang for buck is the Expride 7'2 MH. These are just my personal opinions though. Conquest 843c GLX 843c Expride 7'2 MH Champion XP 734c Sierra 734c

I have a Fury 703c and it balances perfectly with a SLX and a SLX XT. I would definitely get the XT if you could.

Check out the Shimano Sienna if you can, they are around $30, very smooth reel for the price. Okuma Celilo rods are pretty good too at around $30.

Black Friday deal with 20% off at TW. Dobyn Champion XP paired with a Shimano SLX, regular priced at $350 for the combo, but about $280 with 20% off. If that is too much over your budget, then a Dobyns Fury and a Shimano SLX XT are a great pair, $250 with 20% off brings it to $200.

My two favorite ways to fish are using the 90 size whopper plopper on the river for smallmouth and using a plastic worm fishing from the bank. I could use anything on the river and catch a lot of fish, but the WP cover waters fast and doesn't get hung up, the only negatives are the smallmouth like to swipe at it and miss a lot, if they don't feel the hooks I can throw it back out and usually get it. If it feels the hooks, I'll throw a backup and this time of the year the leaves on the water will get caught on the hooks and be really annoying. I like to fish worms when I bank fish because I hate losing lures, I rarely throw a good lure from the bank. And, last year whenever I tried to bank fish or even fish in a lake or pond from my kayak, I didn't do very good at all, but this year I discovered the Senko and now I almost never get skunked and caught my PB 4.6 lb LM on a small lake with a wacky rigged Senko. I usually T-Rig then from the bank with a 1/16th oz. bullet weight and when I wacky rig them I always use a nail weight. I caught 34 bass one river trip and most of them were on one worm wacky rigged with a o-ring. But, as much as I love the plastic worm, I don't usually fish a Senko anymore, it's usually a Strike King Plastic Worm or Yum Dingers, always in 5" size, and I even tried some really cheap ones from Creme that were super soft, but they all catch fish. And, I pretty much agree with those who say it's boring to fish a weightless worm or anything like that for that matter. I can be a patient fisherman, but I'm not good at doing nothing and waiting for too long without doing something, or else I would fish for cats. I could see some situations where it might be best to throw it weightless. I might try throwing more weightless in areas where there are lots of rocks, like the 5 up-ground reservoirs we have here, in spots where it isn't going to take forever for it to fall. I did get some swimming senkos awhile back, but I still haven't used them. To each their own though.

Thanks for the reply. I do throw the 90 whopper plopper a lot for smallmouth, but it's usually on the river in depth less than 2 feet. I've mostly used a 6 ft ugly stik gx2 for it, but I have tried my Lews 6'10 MF with it a few times that actually feels more like a xtra fast and it seemed they were able to shake the treble hooks more often with the faster tip. With it being so shallow they have end up jumping up a lot. I thought treble hook lures need more a moderate/moderate fast tip, but I'm still pretty new to fishing. The Dobyns 703 actually seems like it would handle treble hook baits better cuz it has more flex in the tip. I'm hoping to get the Dobyns Glass rod for treble hook lures in a few months though, but right now I still like to use my GX2 for trebles, the glass tip gives it a lot of flex. But, I can always try the plopper on it sometime. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDx8tyMibBa5ypTXPBfI63g/videos?view_as=subscriber Thanks for the reply. I just did that last night. I put the Abu Garcia Pro Max I had on the SLX rod, and the SLX reel on the 703.

I just got a Shimano SLX Reel combo that came with a 7'2 Med Heavy Extra Fast Action SLX Rod and I'm wondering what all it would be suited for. I already have a Dobyns Fury 703, that is 7 ft Med Heavy Fast Action for Senkos, Jigs, Flukes, Texas Rigs, and Spinners. I imagine they will throw a lot of the same stuff, and with the Dobyns I should be able to throw lighter stuff better with a little more flex in the tip. I'm considering using the SLX for frog fishing as one of it's applications, but I don't frog fish a whole lot. So, I'm just wondering if it's different enough to keep around or not, I would like to hear what you guys think it will be good for, thanks.

I just got a Dobyns Fury 703, 7 ft MH Fast action for Worms, Texas Rigs, Jigs, etc.. and I also ordered a Shimano SLX combo in the 7'2" MF Xtra Fast Action for a little bit heavier single hook baits, both baitcasters But my question is about my other setups, I usually kayak fish and like shorter rods, so I have a 6 ft Medium Ugly Stik GX2 baitcaster and a 6 ft Medium Fast Action Spinning Rod. But I've been doing a lot more bank fishing this year with the rivers being so low and often too much wind for lake kayaking. I would like to use the Ugly Stick Gx2 as a crankbait rod cuz it does have some decent bend to it and I've caught a lot of fish on it already from the kayak, and I'd like to use the 6 ft spinning rod for my lighter lures. But would it be a good idea to get longer rods for bank fishing or would I be ok with those 6ft rods? I also have a 6'10 Lews Speed stick that is Medium Fast Action, but it's really stiff and seems more like a xtra fast, but it actually says it's for crankbaits, topwater, and small spinnerbaits, but it seems to fish plastics better, wouldn't you agree it's more suited for single hooks? And could it also be a jerkbait rod or is the stiffness in the tip not good for those?

Thanks guys for the congrats! Sorry I'm so late, I been busy fishing while it's been good. I can't say if it was long battle or not, I haven't caught one that big before, but I've lost a few that big, so I was being gentle and I'm not too experienced of a fisherman yet. I just started last year, but it sure was fun letting him pull me around like that. I was just so afraid I was going to lose it, I wanted to baby it and make sure it was tired out. I learn from comments like these and now I know that I don't have to be so gentle with them, but if I lose the next one I'm coming back here and complaining, JK. If you want to me see fight another bass for longer that I should of, I'll post my latest video, where I caught 41 bass river fishing.

The rivers in my area are full of smallmouth and we have 5 reservoirs that have have both largemouth and smallmouth. I catch way more smallies than large, but that's cuz I usually kayak fish the rivers. But this year I would say it's been about equal, because I've had to fish more lakes due to the rivers being a mess. As to which one I would prefer to catch, I would rather catch a 5 lb smallie than a 5 lb largemouth. I notice the biggest difference in the smaller ones, the smallmouth fight way harder than largemouth. And, someone said that smallies are ugly, must not have caught too many of them, because I prefer the looks of a perfect smallie over a large any day.

I use Senko's with nail weights when I'm walking around bank fishing. I like how it speeds things up and allows it to hit the bottom when there is a lot of current or wind. I think I'm gonna get some bullet weights though and try them because the nail weight does tear up the Senko faster. I prefer Wacky Rig, but almost always fish Texas Rigged when I fish from the banks, because the exposed hooks get caught up a lot and you lose a lot when bank fishing. When the work gets beat up, I'll wacky rig it, that's how I just caught my P.B. this week.

It was a very sunny day in NW Ohio, and I was just throwing a Texas rigged and Wacky rigged Green Pumpkin Senko. I caught the big one with the wacky rig and a circle hook, so I didn't even need to set the hook. Also in the video is a Rainbow Trout which I think might have SVD and I'm looking for some opinions on that and whether or not I should contact someone if it is. I usually kayak fish in small local rivers for smallmouth using topwater, but they have all been a disaster due to the amount of rain we've gotten all Spring, I've been forced to learn how to fish lakes, which has been a good thing.

Rivers here is Ohio have been a disaster all Spring, still not normal. And when I have been able to go, the smallmouth are too few and far between, nothing but Rock Bass. I've had to get my fix on lakes.

Nice footballs you got there!

Video link below if interested. Catch happens at the 7:30 mark.