Dobyns Sierra

[PatrickKnight]

What is are the general thoughts on this series? Thinking about trying out a 703SF but I will have to buy it online without being able to hold it or see how it balances a Stradic FK 3000. I know the Fury is popular at the 100 price points and the Champions are thought very highly of however the Savvy didnt get the best reviews. So for $170 are these solid or should I look else where?

[fishnkamp]

Go get it now. I have had almost all of the Dobyns Fury, Sierras and a lot of the Champions in my hands. The Sierra rod are a touch slower graphite then the Champions but almost as sensitive.  My local tackle shop stocks a lot of their rods. If I had not found the deal on a refurbed Champion DC 705 I would have  purchased a Sierra 705C. Best of all my dealer decided to surprise me with a super deal on a brand new Champ 705 instead, so I could not resist.  My next rod will be the exact 703SF you are considering. I messed around with one last week. I mounted a Shimano Saros 2500 on it and it felt pretty good. The balance point was just ahead of the blank just ahead of the threaded part of the handle.  I have to go to the fishing flea market next week and unload some stuff to afford some new stuff LOL

[PatrickKnight]

15 minutes ago, fishnkamp said:

Go get it now. I have had almost all of the Dobyns Fury, Sierras and a lot of the Champions in my hands. The Sierra rod are a touch slower graphite then the Champions but almost as sensitive.  My local tackle shop stocks a lot of their rods. If I had not found the deal on a refurbed Champion DC 705 I would have  purchased a Sierra 705C. Best of all my dealer decided to surprise me with a super deal on a brand new Champ 705 instead, so I could not resist.  My next rod will be the exact 703SF you are considering. I messed around with one last week. I mounted a Shimano Saros 2500 on it and it felt pretty good. The balance point was just ahead of the blank just ahead of the threaded part of the handle.  I have to go to the fishing flea market next week and unload some stuff to afford some new stuff LOL

 

I like my rods on the slower side of fast so that is welcoming. How would you say the 703 Sierra compares to the 703 Fury?

 

I am currently trying to unload a couple folding knives to fund new rods

[Airman4754]

I haven't fished one but I handled a few of them at Cabelas. They are very well made.

[fishnkamp]

The balance and feel in your hand is similar, however the Sierra is much more sensitive than the Fury. That is a big jump up in the line.  Seriously if I just handed you a Sierra rod and you were not aware of the price you would expect the price to be double what Gary sells it for. You mentioned the Savvy series.  That series was one of the biggest sellers for Dobyns, He has said numerous times he does not personally believe in micro guides but customers hounded him for a micro series.  So before there was a Sierra (only been around about 1 year) and before there was a Fury series,  there were two top tier Champion lines and two Savvys.  He was being hounded for a rod series below $250 and that became the Savvy's.  He liked the Savvy standard guide rods a lot. He has said he will leave the Savvy Micro rods alone because the customers that want it are still buying it.  He was messing around and came up with a blank he could make more sensitive and lighter and that is how the Sierra rods came about. If you had one in your hand you will see the precise way the guides are on the correct side of the spine, the guides are perfectly in line, and the attention to detail in the rods finish is top notch. The rod is very comfortable and well balanced.   In your hand it will feel super light thanks to good blanks, no over powering fancy finishes that deaden the rod and good quality components.   The Fury line was another answer to a LOUD roar from dealers and customers for a rod below the highly competitive $150 mark.  I think he said it took over two years to develope a blank and final rod he was satisfied with.  The Sierras ended up falling in the same cost range as the Savvy and were more sensitive, so he dropped the standard guide Savvy rods. The price on the Sierra is about the same as a Savvy so it makes no sense to have both.

Give me an email at fishnkamp@comcast.net. I have a neat way to get questions answered directly from Gary Dobyns himself.  It is way cool to hear from the master wizard himself.

 

[Columbia Craw]

I owned a Savvy 703SF and paired it with a Stradic 3000. The balance was about perfect. I traded it up to an Extreme but still have two Champion 703SF's and they are matched with Saros 3000 reels. Balance is great. The Sierra series is slightly slower than the Champion and Fury but sensitivity is very very good.   Dobyns did a super job in the upgrade of the Savvy's.  The Sierra's are fine rods.

[PatrickKnight]

1 hour ago, fishnkamp said:

The balance and feel in your hand is similar, however the Sierra is much more sensitive than the Fury. That is a big jump up in the line.  Seriously if I just handed you a Sierra rod and you were not aware of the price you would expect the price to be double what Gary sells it for. You mentioned the Savvy series.  That series was one of the biggest sellers for Dobyns, He has said numerous times he does not personally believe in micro guides but customers hounded him for a micro series.  So before there was a Sierra (only been around about 1 year) and before there was a Fury series,  there were two top tier Champion lines and two Savvys.  He was being hounded for a rod series below $250 and that became the Savvy's.  He liked the Savvy standard guide rods a lot. He has said he will leave the Savvy Micro rods alone because the customers that want it are still buying it.  He was messing around and came up with a blank he could make more sensitive and lighter and that is how the Sierra rods came about. If you had one in your hand you will see the precise way the guides are on the correct side of the spine, the guides are perfectly in line, and the attention to detail in the rods finish is top notch. The rod is very comfortable and well balanced.   In your hand it will feel super light thanks to good blanks, no over powering fancy finishes that deaden the rod and good quality components.   The Fury line was another answer to a LOUD roar from dealers and customers for a rod below the highly competitive $150 mark.  I think he said it took over two years to develope a blank and final rod he was satisfied with.  The Sierras ended up falling in the same cost range as the Savvy and were more sensitive, so he dropped the standard guide Savvy rods. The price on the Sierra is about the same as a Savvy so it makes no sense to have both.

Give me an email at fishnkamp@comcast.net. I have a neat way to get questions answered directly from Gary Dobyns himself.  It is way cool to hear from the master wizard himself.

 

 

Thank you so much for all the info.

51 minutes ago, Columbia Craw said:

I owned a Savvy 703SF and paired it with a Stradic 3000. The balance was about perfect. I traded it up to an Extreme but still have two Champion 703SF's and they are matched with Saros 3000 reels. Balance is great. The Sierra series is slightly slower than the Champion and Fury but sensitivity is very very good.   Dobyns did a super job in the upgrade of the Savvy's.  The Sierra's are fine rods.

 

Thanks for the info!!

 

Man I love that these are slightly slower rods!

 

Would you guys say the jump from the Fury to the Sierra is similar to for jump from SC2 to SC3 in the St Croix line up? Also how do these compare to the Avid line of rods?

[fishnkamp]

In my opinion the jump to the Sierra is bigger than the St Croix rods.  I am not a fan of ST Croix rods anymore, so I sold off all of mine in favor of purchasing Dobyns, Powell, and Irod.  My friend Kris is replacing most of his other rods with Dobyns Fury, and they are really nice rods, but my Champs are a world above them.The Sierras are only a tick slower in action and if you never fish the same rod in both lines you will never no it.  Evgen if you did you will not be disappointed.  Like I said I intend to purchase a SA 703SF in the very near future. I will b using it for bottom contact finesse baits, Sencos, tubes, snakey heads etc.

[scbassin]

I purchased 2 Sierra rods for my grandson. They were a little long for him so he did not like them. They were a 6'8" M/H & a heavy. The M/H fished closer to a medium & the heavy closer to a M/H. The reason I chose them over a couple of other brands that had full cork handles was the up graded cork handles. I fished them for 10 or 12 days before selling them, I just did not like them they fished to light.

[Columbia Craw]

I have only owned two Avids and it's been 7 years since I moved them.  They fished slow to me. In fairness, they were casting and not spinning.  They were very nice rods, just not exactly fast enough.  

[Chowderhead]

15 hours ago, fishnkamp said:

Go get it now. I have had almost all of the Dobyns Fury, Sierras and a lot of the Champions in my hands. The Sierra rod are a touch slower graphite then the Champions but almost as sensitive.  My local tackle shop stocks a lot of their rods. If I had not found the deal on a refurbed Champion DC 705 I would have  purchased a Sierra 705C. Best of all my dealer decided to surprise me with a super deal on a brand new Champ 705 instead, so I could not resist.  My next rod will be the exact 703SF you are considering. I messed around with one last week. I mounted a Shimano Saros 2500 on it and it felt pretty good. The balance point was just ahead of the blank just ahead of the threaded part of the handle.  I have to go to the fishing flea market next week and unload some stuff to afford some new stuff LOL

Great write-up, I am now seriously looking into these rods. 

[PatrickKnight]

21 hours ago, fishnkamp said:

In my opinion the jump to the Sierra is bigger than the St Croix rods.  I am not a fan of ST Croix rods anymore, so I sold off all of mine in favor of purchasing Dobyns, Powell, and Irod.  My friend Kris is replacing most of his other rods with Dobyns Fury, and they are really nice rods, but my Champs are a world above them.The Sierras are only a tick slower in action and if you never fish the same rod in both lines you will never no it.  Evgen if you did you will not be disappointed.  Like I said I intend to purchase a SA 703SF in the very near future. I will b using it for bottom contact finesse baits, Sencos, tubes, snakey heads etc.

 

That is pretty much what I am going to use it for tubes, grubs, and small paddletails.

[SuckAtPhishing]

Debating between st. croix avid or avid x line and dobyns fury, sierra, and savvy? What would you guys say are the best benefits to a dobyn vs st. croix.?  I like the sierra they look sharp... never actually held one... I am a big fan of how the avid x feels.  Thanks for the input.

[fishnkamp]

If you are considering an Avid X then you are looking at paying roughly $200 depending on the rod. The Dobyns is going to run you around $170 for the Sierras and $230 to $250 for the Champion XPs.  I like the balance and sensitivity of the Dobyns. It comes down to what you like. Like I said the next rod I am going to get is going to be a SA 693SF. 

Here is what I would do. There is a tackle shop in Oconomowoc, WI called Get Hooked Outdoors. I would call to see if they have any Dobyns in stock. They are listed as a Dobyns dealer but may not stock what you want.   Otherwise there are two locations listed for a tackle dealer called  The Reel Shot in Wisconsin. One is in Oshkosh and the other in Appleton.  Call each store and see what each one has in stock. There website says they have the Champion Xps and several Savvy's in stock. Go put a reel on them and see what you like best  In general it looks like about an hour and a half or so journey to the Appleton location and a bit less to the Oshkosh location. 

[PatrickKnight]

I am a huge fan of the original line of Avid rods (don't care for the X due to not liking micro guides) and having owned an Avid for a while (7 foot medium power fast action) I will say the Dobyns is slightly more sensitive in my hands. However the Avid balances a 3000 Stradic FK ever so slightly better as the Dobyns is just a tad tip heavy, likely due to no for grip on the rod ( I would not put a reel that weighs less than 8.5-9 ozs on the Dobyns as the balance would be way off at that point). I don't think you could go wrong either way but for me I would spend 170 on the Dobyns and get some other goodies with the extra 30 bucks. One other thing that played a role for me was the fact Dobyns is less expensive on the replacement cost and since I can do stupid things from time to time this is a nice thing.

 

 

And just because pics make every thread better here is me testing the 703 out on the river the first day I got it (pic sucks I know).