March 2023

Dobyns Rods News & Updates

Stay up to date on all the latest and greatest from Dobyns Rods!

Gary's Corner...

I’ve always had a dog or two all my life. A few times I’ve had three at a time. We lost Brodie to cancer at the age of 10, two years ago. It’s been strange not having a Labrador running around chasing tennis balls and birds. So after two years we’re adding two new family additions, Boone and Crockett . We came West for one pup but fell in love with two of them. Heck, truthfully we fell in love with all nine of them but stopped at two. So we’ll start the training and teaching them tricks. Tennis balls and birds, beware.

As always, March is a big fish time of year in much of the U.S. Here in Texas, O.H. Ivey is still putting out giants (10 Share-a-Lunkers so far this year as I write this) but there’s been a lot of big fish being caught in most of our waters. The thing about Texas is the amount of water we have to fish. Everyone hears of Ivey, Lake Fork, Rayburn, and Toledo, but for every one of these big boys, there’s dozens of smaller bodies of water that hold giants as well. Plus, Texas is still building reservoirs today and providing more fishing and recreational opportunities.

The West has been very fortunate to get slammed with some big storms filling their reservoirs and some of the higher elevations have over thirty feet of snow. Yes, thirty feet of snow that will melt all the way into the summer providing good runoff to keep the reservoirs up. So many of the West's lakes had no launching facilities at all, but now all of them are in great shape with more water coming too. The West has had really cold weather this year. Fishing in most places hasn’t been to normal expectations. When I say West here, I’m not talking about the Colorado River reservoirs of Mead and Powell. These are filled mainly with water coming down the Colorado River. These giant impoundments are in serious trouble and there’s no amount of runoff that can fix these in a year or two. It’d take more than a decade of crazy weather to help restore these monster bodies of water.

As far as weather is concerned, the main difference between the West and the South is, the West stays pretty stable with temps. There’s a slow warm up and a few fish spawn in late March, but most of the West’s spawn is mid-April through May. One of the reasons is the colder night temps. The West really cools off at night and keeps water temps down. In the South the weather is all over the place. You can have a ice or snow storm and get a sunburn a couple of days later. Plus, the night temps drop but nothing like it does in the West. So our fish in the south start spawning in early to mid-February and spawn for many months as they get knocked back with the cold fronts. I’ll add, the far Southern areas will see fish spawning in January. Texas has the craziest weather, but in reality, our winters are really short. As I write this in the end of February, all our East Texas lakes have a full blown spawn taking place.

I’m always asked about anything new coming down the pipeline. The latest additions have been the tournament cull buoys, and all of our rod sleeves in both mesh and neoprene. We stayed with our rod accent colors but I added an oddball color called psycho, guys will use that in their rod box to make it easy to find a particular rod quickly. We’re also adding a lighter Bull-Shad swimbait rod for our buddy Mike Bucca. It’s a MB 835SB and this rod will be in stock fairly soon. It’s an 8’3”, 5 power swimbait rod for a lot of the mid-weight swimbaits. The other project that’s in the works is a series of travel rods. We get many requests for travel rods when guys are headed across or out of the country. So we’re going to fill this niche and add some heavier action rods, plus two swimbait models.

If you’re fishing in Texas and happen to see two yellow Labradors with a tall chubby guy fishing in a white Vexus 20 footer, it’s a fair chance me and the boys are out for a trip. Stop and say hello!!! Good fishing to all!!!

Forward-Facing With Your Head Down

By Dobyns Rods Pro Staffer Craig Gottwals

The rumors percolated pre-pandemic of an electronics guru devouring the competition in America’s largest crappie tournaments. Fishing in a previously unimagined futuristic manner, from the not-so-bass-mecca state of Oklahoma, Josh Jones is reported to have caught more than 200 ten-pound fish in less than five years. Dobyns Rod owner and bass tournament legend Gary Dobyns first met Josh Jones through a former business partner and two-time national crappie fishing champion, Matt Morgan.

“Gary, you need to meet him and get on a boat with him. I’m telling you right now. He’s the best crappie angler on the planet, and once he transitions to bass, he’s going to catch more big fish than anyone ever has,” Morgan told Dobyns.

I remember those words well because they were virtually identical to what Gary told me in the Winter of 2021. We were fishing California’s Lake Oroville with the first generation of forward-facing sonar, and Gary was trying to show me how to use it. I’ll wait for the western guys to prove me wrong, which is certainly a possibility. But from my limited understanding of this weapon and its primary utility, Lake Oroville might be the second worst body of water on which to use it due to Oroville’s seemingly infinite number of one to two-pound fish. The worst would be shallow delta fishing. But on the deeper river channels in search of stripers – well, that is likely to be a different story.

Click Here To Read More

Cook Starts 2023 Season With A Top 10

Congratulations to Dobyns Rods' Pro Staffer Drew Cook who made the cut for 4th and final day of the Bassmaster Elite on Lake Okeechobee. Drew came in with a 4-day total of 66.11lbs securing his 10th Place finish.

The weather made for tough fishing conditions but Drew found a way to fish on Championship Sunday! The guys at The Cut Line are super excited to take you along this year and are going to dedicate more time to bringing you behind the scenes, as well as teaching as much as they can to all of their techniques.

Click Here To Watch The Video

Smith Wins On Cherokee Lake

Congratulations to Dobyns Rods Pro Staffer Kyle Smith and his tournament partner Bobby Drinnon who took 1st Place on Cherokee Lake with the Tennessee Team Trail. Kyle and Bobby had a five bass limit that went 19.11lbs to outpace the rest of the field and scored them a $12,500 payday including Caymas Cash and a Garmin Contingency. Kyle caught his fish using the Champion Extreme HP Series DX 745C FH and the Champion XP Series DC 702SF.

Congratulations Kyle and Bobby!

Q&A With Gary Dobyns & Brice Boseman

Q & A - Anyone with questions please submit to [email protected].These will be answered by Gary and Brice Boseman. A few will be selected each month for the newsletter. Some anglers don’t like their names posted so we’ll use first names only. If you’ll include your location, we will post name and where you’re from. An example would be: Mike from Dallas, TX.

Q - What’s your best Chatterbait rod? From Gerald in Prescott, AZ

A - Our most popular rod for chatterbaits is the Champion XP Series DC 736CB GLASS. This rod was made for chatterbaits and casts super easy. It also handles many of the bigger crankbaits perfectly too. The other rod that gets a lot of use with chatterbaits around heavy cover is the Champion XP Series

DC 735C in either full or split handle versions. We make several 7’3” 5-power rods across our different line-ups, and they’ll all work great for chatterbaits. If I’m using a 735C, I personally prefer the Champ 735C in full handle.

Q - Tell me about your casting reels and will you be making a higher end model? From TJ in Mississippi

A - We are doing well with our casting reels. They come in 3 gear ratio’s 6.5-1, 7.2-1, and 8.1-1. They also come in 3 different accent colors of green, blue, and red. There are both left and right hand versions. These have 11 ball bearing plus a roller bearing. They’re very smooth and cast amazingly well, but you’ll need to tune with cast control and magnetic control. They have upgraded drag washers, and to date, I think we’ve had three reels returned out of thousands sold. Right now, I have no intention of building a higher end reel but will be looking to do so down the road a ways.

Q - What’s the best weight of spinnerbait in most applications in Northern California? Plus color? From Simon in Redding, CA

A - The most popular size spinnerbait in NorCal is definitely 1/2oz in some kind of baitfish color. Most of our colors will work great there, look at the Beast Series. I’m guessing you’re fishing Shasta which has had a couple of wins on a spinnerbait this year. The higher water with a lot of color makes the spinnerbait a great choice. I’ve had some great luck with a 3/4oz early in the year there too. Beware of ½ oz white on white in the fall. It’s a killer!! I love Shasta and it was very good to me with a spinnerbait in many events over the years.

Q - What’s the best rod for a Dep’s 175 and also the 250? Plus, what line and pound test do you recommend? From Sam in Dallas, TX

A - The best rod for the Dep’s 175 and similar 6-7 inch glide baits would be the Champion XP Series

DC 794SB This rod excels when it comes to glide baits giving you the perfect Mod action paired with a tip that allows you to work glides effortlessly. Controlling the cadence of a glide bait is key. Just like the famous Deps 250’s and similar glides in that 6-9oz range the DC 867HSB is the PERFECT rod. From casting distance to control over the bait, anglers can dial in retrieve speeds paired with the tip action to really bring the bait to life.

Q - I want to get into swimbait fishing. Can you give me advice on 3 baits to start with, the rods needed, reel gear ratio, and line size? From Charles

A - For anglers just getting into swimbaits, there are a few styles of baits that are proven across the country from multi-jointed to soft plastic baits. For guys just starting out and wanting to build confidence, the 6-inch range of baits is a great place to start. The 6-inch multi-jointed Bull Shad is a proven fish catching machine. For the guys who primarily have gills as forage, the 5-inch Bull Gill is a great option. I would stick with slow sink as my ROF(rate of fall) allowing the angler to have more control over a bait in shallower water/around cover. The MagDraft is a proven bait all over the country. From the 6-inch standard or the 7-inch free style, these baits are easy to find and will catch fish from 1lb-10lbs. I like to keep it simple for rod/reel/line. The Fury Series FR 795SB is a perfect rod to get you started. For reels (depending on brand) any 200 or 150 size is perfectly fine to start with, compared to popular belief. As far as line, a great place to start would be Berkley Big Game from 20-25lb mono. This would give you a setup that’s ready to fish anywhere in the country!

Not Just A Bass Rod!

Vexus Boat’s rep Keith Tripp just can’t get it through his head, these are BASS rods. Here’s some great photos where he’s fishing with Adam and Dave Rasmussen on Lake Guntersville. Adam was putting some hours on his new Vexus VX21 on his way to Eufaula for a Bass Master Open. Looks like a great time.

Congrats Tripper on the whisker fish!!!

Jelley Places 3rd On Lake Guntersville

Congratulations to Dobyns Rods' Pro Staffer Gabe Jelley who took 3rd Place with the MLF Toyota Series on Lake Guntersville.

"There’s endless grass in Guntersville, but it was the isolated patches in Town Creek that were the focus for Gabe Jelley. A ditch that came off the main river made a few swings inside the creek, and on each swing were isolated patches of grass he plied with Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammers (green pumpkin shad or black and blue) and Yamamoto Zako trailers. However, that area dried up the final afternoon, and while just fishing around, he “stumbled upon” a 6-12 in a creek he hadn’t fished all week to get him in the top five." -via majorleaguefishing.com

Alcock Places 10th On Lake Guntersville

Congratulations to Dobyns Rods Pro Staffer Travis Alcock who took 10th Place with the MLF Toyota Series on Lake Guntersville.

"Three “really good spots” that could all produce 20-plus pounds turned into one decent spot for Travis Alcock thanks to the weather. All three spots had a mix of eelgrass, hydrilla and coontail out on the main river. The first two never panned out, though, because they got ruined by the winds, but the third spot was enough to get him a Top 10 by throwing a red Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammer with a matching Yamamoto Zako trailer. He also mixed in an Azuma Shaker Z (Aztec)." -via majorleaguefishing.com

Picture This...

Dobyns Rods' Pro Staffer Erik Tilson puts his clients on the bass using the Champion XP Series DC 734C and DC 765CB.

Dobyns Rods' Pro Staffer Jason Borofka caught a quick limit and his biggest fish of the year so far on Lake Hubbard.

Ray Scarbrough with a nice largemouth using the Fury Series FR 703C.

Brian Langslet caught a 22.5lb cutthroat trout on Lake Pyramid using the Champion XP Series

DC 703SF.

Brian Fesler with an 8lb largemouth using the Champion XP DC 735C and a 5" swimbait on the California Delta.

Congratulations to Dobyns Rods' Pro Staffer Josh Diehl who took 5th Place with the Bassmaster Kayak Series on Lake Guntersville.

Dobyns Rods Play Key Role In Top Ten On Lake Oroville

Congratulations to several of the Dobyns Rods' Pro Staffers for taking spots on the Top 10 with the Wild West Bass Trail Pro/Am on Lake Oroville.

On the Pro side, Joseph Orozco came in at 8th Place with 31.71lbs while Richard Dobyns narrowly trailed behind with 31.37lbs for 9th Place. On the Am side, collegiate angler Vance Hayes took 7th Place with a total of 20.77lbs.

Congratulations fellas!

El Salto Is On Fire

By Hannah Robbins via Half Past First Cast

While Pete and I were whacking on sailfish at Casa Vieja Lodge, our friends from Wisconsin were at Anglers Inn at Lake El Salto. After 40 years, it remains the most consistently excellent Mexican fishery, but of course there are slight ups and downs. Well, our friends hit it while it was WAY UP.

Indeed, fishing has been insane since the season started in October, with huge numbers and lots of full-sized chunks. You need to get there while the getting is good.

Click Here To Read More

Furmanek & Kettner Win On Bartlett Lake

Congratulations to Dobyns Rods' Pro Staffer Seth Furmanek and Robert Kettner for their 1st Place win for the 5th and final event of the Bass Junkyz season on Bartlett Lake. Their 5-fish total came in at 15.06lbs.

Congratulations Seth & Robert!

Rheem Recaps The Bassmaster EQ's

Dobyns Rods' Pro Staffer Clark Rheem has a great start to the year in the Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers! A small paycheck and a lot of points! Here is how and he caught his 31lbs to finish 36th out of 225 at Lake Eufaula.

Click Here To Watch The Video

2023 Dobyns Rods Product Catalog

Now Available Online

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