Dobyns Sierra Ultra Finesse Casting Rods

[Amir_zwara]

Hello!
So this is a post I've been meaning to make for a while.
I've been a long time lurker of the UL section of this forum, so I figured I should introduce myself and state why I'm finally making this post.
My name is Amir and I live in Arizona. I fish for bass, I fish for trout, and I generally find myself fishing urban waters and utilizing finesse techniques. Ultralight is what I've grown up on, and BFS has become a big part of my repertoire over the years. I'm no big time though, I fish local urban tourneys with $20 buy ins. I have a family, kids, and a day job that doesn't involve fishing. Most of y'all probably know the gig.
Along with being addicted to the catching part of fishing, like most of you, I've become a tackle junky. My particular fix is Dobyns Rods. Ever since my first Fury 702sf, I've been hooked on the brand and I now have more Dobyns rods than I'll ever let my wife see at once... Which brings me to...
Back in February of this year Gary Dobyns announced plans to prototype a new light casting rod in the spirit of the long ago discontinued dx701c. Dobyns fans, myself included, made the argument for going all out with a BFS style rod. Well, I guess my argument was convincing as Gary reached out to me directly and about a month later I had two prototypes in hand. I, along with Trey Harpel of THKustoms, spent months putting those prototypes to work on the water. Comparing notes, providing feedback, getting things fine tuned, asking for more guides to be added than you can shake a stick at... Gary took everything we threw his way and worked that rod building magic. Fast forward to today and I'm happy to announce that Dobyns Rods has officially released two new Ultra Finesse Casting rod models. They are branded in the Sierra series and are built on all new blanks specifically for ultra light techniques.
A true fast action with backbone. Solid carbon tip. Split cork handle. Fuji reel seats and Fuji guides. Officially rated 1/16-5/16. These rods comfortably cast #2 Joe's Flies for creek trout, and have have hauled out monster SMB that were gobbling on neds.
The rod are listed on the Dobyns website, and should be available for order from your favorite Dobyns dealer for anyone interested.


Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

[ultralight]

Super. I'm sure that was a real pleasure to be invited to help with the design of a rod. Congrats.

The rod looks great at a reasonable price really.

Question: Why solid carbon tip and how long is that solid section? I've been trying to understand the advantages of tube tip versus solid carbon tip and have not found a definitive answer yet. For example, I recently ended up picking up four of the much touted Abu Garcia Eradicator series between 6' 7" and 7' 9". Two has solid tips and two has tube tips. I have done measurements on many a rods with either configuration but do not know what would be the advantages of either design. (I don't fish with these since I pass them on to whoever eventually will fish with them.) I do very lightly tap the tip for one of the sensitivity tests and there does not seem to be a correlation either. (There are many different definitions for sensitivity.) Do you know? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the advantages of each.

Thanks.

[Amir_zwara]

The solid tip on these is the top 12". I know that cause I broke a prototype at about 14" down, and started chopping away till I found the splice.
The tip on these rods is very thin. Much, much thinner than my KD700SF UL rod. In fact I have my Kuying Teton TTC632UL and my TTS622SUL here with me now, and this Dobyns is still considerably visually thinner than either of those at the tip (while being about 3x diameter at the butt end). With as thin as the tip on the Dobyns is, per Gary and I believe it, there's no way it could have been done correctly in tubular. Now why would this rod need a tip that thin? Because unlike those Kuying, it is a true fast action and intended to handle bass, so it beefs up and has quite a bit of backbone (comparatively) once you get past that solid tip. With the Kuying you get quite a bit of flex throughout most of the rod on the cast, giving it the ability to fling those tiny lures. Since this Dobyns is much faster action overall, the tip needed to be even thinner to cast those same tiny lures.
Another benefit is that the solid tip has more flex than an equivalent size/power tubular tip would. I can bend that top 12" into a nice tight U, but once you reach the tube portion of the rod that's not the case. So this creates a rod that has not only a very thin tip, but a tip that is flexible enough to "show" you your strikes, and hold well during a mean headshake. In theory this is at the sacrifice of some sensitivity, as tubular should transmit vibrations better, but I think the quality of the materials used is far more crucial in that regard.

[ultralight]

Amir, THANKS.

Your thoughts are VERY helpful. I really enjoy hearing the thought processes going into rod design. I'm about to build a rod on a blank with a tip like yours, except 18" long. It sounds like Dobyn may have taken an approach somewhat similar to Phenix's Iron Feather possibly? Have you per chance fished with an Iron Feather?

Anyways, my final question that I can think of. What do you mean by "show you your strikes"? Do you mean that when you are jigging it and there's a strike that the tip behaves differently, thus visually showing you that you have a strike?

Thanks again for taking time to reply. I'd love to get my hands on one of these in a store somewhere.

[Amir_zwara]

It's cool to hear you're building yourself a rod with a solid tip. Will it be a bfs style rod? If so, what overall length are you aiming for?
I have not fished an Iron Feather. I did just check them out on their website, and based on their blurb, I'd say this is likely similar in regards to it being a "swift action that allows for a seamless transition from a soft and sensitive tip to a solid and powerful backbone." I did notice they only seem to offer that line in spinning models though.
Now I will say, the Dobyns rod will load deep into the blank when you get a nice size fish on. It's no ultralight broomstick. A quick google image search would likely lead you to a few pictures of some nice sized SMB caught on the prototypes...

As for "show" you the strikes, I only meant that the standard visual cues of a strike are more enhanced than they would be with a less limber tip. So those real subtle takes you sometimes get on say a dropshot are easier to visually detect when conditions are not ideal for feeling subtle strikes, like in gloves and cold weather. I don't think this is unique to the Dobyns by any means, but just a little added benefit that the thin diameter of a solid tip can offer.
In my opinion of course, and your mileage may vary.

[ultralight]

Thanks.

This one I am building is spinning - likely 7' 9".

[FryDog_62]

Amir, a couple questions re: Dobyns Ultra Finesse rod. I'd probably get the 7'4" because I need maximum distance throwing 1/16 oz hair jigs for smallies in gin clear water. Are you familiar with the Shimano Scorpion BFS reel and do you know if that would cast well/far on this rod? Second, wondering if you happen to know the handle length of the 740 (using Tacklewrehouse's way of measuring)? Thx

[Amir_zwara]

FryDog... the 740c is the way to go for hair jigs. It's a solid vertical finesse rod as well. Neds, dropshots, tubes, etc all play real well on it. It has the same tip as the 700c, so the extra 4" come in the butt end. This, in theory at least, makes the rod slightly faster than its shorter sibling. It also has 16+tip micro guides, so sensitivity and line control are on point.
The rod and the reel combo will pair really well together. I did most of my testing with a 2016 Aldebaran BFS XG. If I'm not mistaken, the Scorpion uses the same braking system, just a slightly heavier spool on the scorpion. IMO, if the jigs are true 1/16th you'll be pushing the limits of the stock reel though. There are some basic mods (adding magnets) for the Aldebaran that help on the low end weights, you may want to check if scorpion has the same. The rod itself can handle that 1/16 no issue, Gary played it cautious on the official low end rating he stamped on there, imo.
As for handle length, I don't have the exact numbers on hand, but will try and track them down for you in the next few days. It's a split grip, and the grip/cork itself is the same that you find across the split grip Sierra series rods. We had Gary shorten up the length of exposed blank though for easier one handed casting. I just don't have the exact number we settled on right now.

[Amir_zwara]

A couple points about solid tips in general that I missed...
When working moving lures, in the correct weight range for the rod, it gives the rod a predictable fast as action. I feel like there's a crisp cutoff point, until the weight of a fish is put on.
With slower techniques, like a micro finesse jig, it gives the fish a chance to really take the lure without feeling too much pressure figthing back. You will likely see the tip move before the fish feels the rod.

[FryDog_62]

Thanks for the replies...

I may actually opt for the Aldebaran, saw a video that had it casting a little farther than the Scorpion. As far as handle length, my concern its too short. I had a Lew's jerk bait rod a few years back with a super short handle - it was great working the lure, but gave you no leverage when fighting a fish. You basically did all the work with the hand palming the reel. Again, great on the cast and working the lure, but lacked when fighting. So, yes, I would be interested in handle length - TW measures from the butt of the rod handle up to the fore grip where the reel seat is. Most of the Sierra's on TW have about a 14 inch handle length. For reference, that Lew's I didn't like was 9 inches.

[Amir_zwara]

Frydog,

Tackle warehouse has most Sierra's marked at 14", but if I'm measuring right they are actually 14.25"
The Ultra Finesse comes in at 13.25", or 1" shorter than the standard Sierra models. Plenty for 2 handed casting, but shortened up enough for convenient 1 handed casting while still giving you that leverage.

[FryDog_62]

Perfect - thx Amir!

[hoohoorjoo]

Frydog,

Tackle warehouse has most Sierra's marked at 14", but if I'm measuring right they are actually 14.25"
The Ultra Finesse comes in at 13.25", or 1" shorter than the standard Sierra models. Plenty for 2 handed casting, but shortened up enough for convenient 1 handed casting while still giving you that leverage.

Fwiw, Tacklewarehouse measures from butt to the top of the foregrip or lockdown nut(or reel seat, if there is no foregrip). With no foregrip, this Falcon rod in the pic is roughly 10" from butt to backside of reel seat. I know this because a Fuji ECS seat is 4" if the threads aren't trimmed.

[Amir_zwara]

[Houndfish]

Has anyone seen a pic of these rods under load? I would love to see how fast the tip really is. I very much love fishing presentations in the 1/16-5/16oz range, but I think my longest rod for it is 6' even, so the idea of a much longer one is appealing.

Fwiw, Tacklewarehouse measures from butt to the top of the foregrip or lockdown nut(or reel seat, if there is no foregrip). With no foregrip, this Falcon rod in the pic is roughly 10" from butt to backside of reel seat. I know this because a Fuji ECS seat is 4" if the threads aren't trimmed.

It's infuriating that there isnt a standard for this, it seems like measuring from the rear reel-foot hole to the buttcap would be a easy standard for casting rods.