Need opinions on rods

[Bassmaster153]

I am looking at 4 rods at an entry level price and I would like some info on them 1. Abu Garcia Veritas Toro 2. Diawa DX 3. iRod Genesis 4. Okuma Guide Select

Can these rods throw the baits they are advertised to throw and are the power and action ratings on the rod accurate? Also I am worried with the iRod having 17 and 18 inch grips that it may be harder to cast than other rods???

[BigSlant]

Also I am worried with the iRod having 17 and 18 inch grips that it may be harder to cast than other rods???

Which model? Because I think most of these grips are around 14" ? Also yes these will throw the advertised weights

[BrhodesBassin]

I've never thrown an Abu rod but I've also never heard anything good about them, people love bother irods and okuma as starters, and I would avoid the dx series unless you like rods that handle like broomsticks

[Nick S.]

Don't overlook the Dobyns Fury rods. Same price range as the others you've listed and they are excellent rods.

[Bassmaster153]

For the iRod I am looking at the 7'8" Jr Swimbait for smaller baits and the 7'9" Large Swimbait for bigger baits and yes I was looking at Dobyns rods too.

[NEbucketmouth19]

I have the Okuma GS 7'11" H. IMO the ratings are nowhere close. It says 1-6oz but I don't go over the 4oz mark with mine, casting starts to feel different to me. I like it for that 1-3ish ounce range more. 

[BadChad1983]

This is actually something I know a fair amount about as I'm very new to tossing the big stuff. I agonized over this decision for a long while until I finally broke down and bought the Okuma XH so I could at least have a rod that I know can handle an 8 inch hudd.

Perhaps others can chime in but I think the xh is probably closer to a true fast action that it's listed as and the okuma heavy is closer to a medium fast action that it is listed as.

As far as tossing the big stuff and catching fish goes I've caught fish on baits as light as a 1 ounce live target on up to a 68 rof 12 hudd. I have yet to land a fish on an 8 inch hudd but I haven't really spent much time throwing the 8 inch hudd.

Now that I have a little more experience under my belt I can say that I wouldn't want to throw anything lighter than a 6 inch rof 5 hudd. If you want to throw the hudd gill it will frustrate you pretty good, and the northern I caught on the 1 ounce live target was just me not knowing any better than to throw it. 

While I can't speak for dobyns or irod I do know that Okuma has a solid warranty from all the research I've done and I've also read very few reviews of it breaking down. In fact the guide series only has one review on TW and that alone should tell you something. Not enough people have had one go bad on them.

The best piece of advice I can give you is that almost every rod company out there lists their swimbait rods as being capable of casting baits much larger than what their top end really is. I've read that 13 fishing muse black is actually true to their rating and really are fast action which is an exception to the rule.

Here is a rough formula for calculating weights that you can really fish with swimbait rods.

My Okuma has a 10 ounce max rating.
Take the rod's max rating and divide by 2, in this case it equals 5
So my Okuma you can realistically still catch fish throwing baits in the 2-5 ounce range. I wouldn't feel super comfortable going too much above or below that. Maybe 5.5 ounces, with 6 ounces really probably trying your luck. I have a 10 inch hudd rof 5 coming I'm hoping my Okuma can handle but realistically it probably won't be able to.


If you use that same equation with Ryan F's Okuma in the heavy it comes out like this:
Rod rated 1-6 ounces
6 divided by 2 = 3

Rod can adequately throw lures in the 1-3 ounce range.

Granted these may vary by manufacturer and is totally a rule of thumb thing. I would expect that a mod-fast rods would give you a larger range of what you can throw but most companies have their own ideas about what is fast, mod-fast, extra fast, etc.

If you apply my equation to dobyns rods you get something like this:
Dobyns 795 rated 1-5 ounces.
5 divided by 2 = 2.5
Realistically you can throw 1-2.5 ounce baits, for all the dobyns 795 owners out there is this accurate? Or is it more like 1-3 ounces? We all know it isn't 4 or 5 ounces that's for sure.

Dobyns 806 - 
Rod rating 2-8 ounces
8 divided by 2 equals 4
You could safely throw 2-4 ounce baits on this. I believe 13 fishing has a 7'9 heavy that is rated 2-4 ounces and stuff in that range sounds actually believable.

Dobyns 807
Rod is rated 3-10 ounces
10 divided by 2 equals 5
Rod could realistically throw 3-5 ounce baits.

I hope this helps you out a little bit. If you wanted to I'm thinking of selling my Okuma Guide select XH but really it is probably a bigger pain to ship it for what the rod is worth brand new.

If I could do it all over again, and especially with you living in Texas where big ones prowl, I'd try to find a used custom rod from LDC, MOAM, etc on here and just buy one exceptional rod than two kind of beginner swimbait rods.

[Primus]

BadChad1983 regarding the Dobyns 795 I personally feel comfortable throwing lures in the 1.5 to 4 oz range. I also fish the 867 , though rated a lot higher I feel it's sweet spot is about 4 to 6.5 ounces.

[Moleman]

Straight up for those baits man, get a fury 795. if ur not gunna be throwin 8 inch hudds every day a 795 is a great starter rod. I own a few swimmer rods now, and my 795 still gets a lot of attention.

[BigSlant]

This is actually something I know a fair amount about as I'm very new to tossing the big stuff. I agonized over this decision for a long while until I finally broke down and bought the Okuma XH so I could at least have a rod that I know can handle an 8 inch hudd.

 

Perhaps others can chime in but I think the xh is probably closer to a true fast action that it's listed as and the okuma heavy is closer to a medium fast action that it is listed as.

 

As far as tossing the big stuff and catching fish goes I've caught fish on baits as light as a 1 ounce live target on up to a 68 rof 12 hudd. I have yet to land a fish on an 8 inch hudd but I haven't really spent much time throwing the 8 inch hudd.

 

Now that I have a little more experience under my belt I can say that I wouldn't want to throw anything lighter than a 6 inch rof 5 hudd. If you want to throw the hudd gill it will frustrate you pretty good, and the northern I caught on the 1 ounce live target was just me not knowing any better than to throw it.

 

While I can't speak for dobyns or irod I do know that Okuma has a solid warranty from all the research I've done and I've also read very few reviews of it breaking down. In fact the guide series only has one review on TW and that alone should tell you something. Not enough people have had one go bad on them.

 

The best piece of advice I can give you is that almost every rod company out there lists their swimbait rods as being capable of casting baits much larger than what their top end really is. I've read that 13 fishing muse black is actually true to their rating and really are fast action which is an exception to the rule.

 

Here is a rough formula for calculating weights that you can really fish with swimbait rods.

 

My Okuma has a 10 ounce max rating.

Take the rod's max rating and divide by 2, in this case it equals 5

So my Okuma you can realistically still catch fish throwing baits in the 2-5 ounce range. I wouldn't feel super comfortable going too much above or below that. Maybe 5.5 ounces, with 6 ounces really probably trying your luck. I have a 10 inch hudd rof 5 coming I'm hoping my Okuma can handle but realistically it probably won't be able to.

 

 

If you use that same equation with Ryan F's Okuma in the heavy it comes out like this:

Rod rated 1-6 ounces

6 divided by 2 = 3

Rod can adequately throw lures in the 1-3 ounce range.

 

Granted these may vary by manufacturer and is totally a rule of thumb thing. I would expect that a mod-fast rods would give you a larger range of what you can throw but most companies have their own ideas about what is fast, mod-fast, extra fast, etc.

 

If you apply my equation to dobyns rods you get something like this:

Dobyns 795 rated 1-5 ounces.

5 divided by 2 = 2.5

Realistically you can throw 1-2.5 ounce baits, for all the dobyns 795 owners out there is this accurate? Or is it more like 1-3 ounces? We all know it isn't 4 or 5 ounces that's for sure.

 

Dobyns 806 -

Rod rating 2-8 ounces

8 divided by 2 equals 4

You could safely throw 2-4 ounce baits on this. I believe 13 fishing has a 7'9 heavy that is rated 2-4 ounces and stuff in that range sounds actually believable.

 

Dobyns 807

Rod is rated 3-10 ounces

10 divided by 2 equals 5

Rod could realistically throw 3-5 ounce baits.

 

I hope this helps you out a little bit. If you wanted to I'm thinking of selling my Okuma Guide select XH but really it is probably a bigger pain to ship it for what the rod is worth brand new.

 

If I could do it all over again, and especially with you living in Texas where big ones prowl, I'd try to find a used custom rod from LDC, MOAM, etc on here and just buy one exceptional rod than two kind of beginner swimbait rods.

Not a bad theory.. but in reality most guys won't push their rods to the limit either..i had a MOAM built 7'9" 1-4oz mh fast action for baits like tiny klash and Roman trick..i really enjoy throwing my 9" 4.5 oz slyguy on 16# line.. it feels a little overloaded but I whip it anyway.. the retrieve action, sensitivity and control is incredible

 

I'm not saying throw a mother on a rod rated to 8 oz..i am saying I don't think everyone really knows what loading a rod is and what's really a top end.. food for thought

Edited October 25, 2017 by BigSlant

[jhoozie1]

I own the XH Okuma Guide Select and I have thrown baits as small as a Hudd 68 all the way up to a deps 250 (6.5 oz). I think the rod handles the 250 fine and I do it consistently. I bought my brother a Gen 2 Irod Large Swim and I would suggest this rod over the Guide Select. It's a much lighter rod without sacrificing much power. I have not used the Irod as much as the Guide Select but the few times I have used it, I was impressed. It can also handle the deps 250 fairly well.

 

Lastly, my cousin owns the H Daiwa DX and although I have not personally thrown it, he seems to like it. I believe the heaviest bait he throws on it is an 8" Hudd.

[waynem]

I don't own an Okuma but a buddy had 2 of them which were nothing but problems.  Had to return both of them for defects within the first year or two and then got rid of them.  No one on SU ever seems to say "I'm getting rid of my other rods and going with all Okumas".

 

My swimbait rods include Dobyns 795, 806, and 867 Champion rods. The 795 seems to handle 1 to 3 oz baits well and will go up to 4 in a pinch.  The 806 is good for 2 to about 5 oz.  I've thrown up to a 6.5 oz Deps 250 on it but thats pushing it - you end up lobbing rather than casting.  The 867 is a really nice rod that handles a wide range.  I have no problem casting something as light as 2.5 oz up to 6 or 7 oz on the high side.  I don't own any of the Fury series but guys seem to give them good reviews.

 

When you are talking about 8" Hudds you really need to factor in how you are rigging the Hudd.  A jig hook is going to require more power to set than if you rig with a Butch Brown treble rig.  Also how you handle the tackle make a difference.  Top Ramen know what he is doing and he fishes a Weedless Rising Son with 10/0 Beast hook on the 795.  However he is pointing the rod at the bait so he is able to use all of the rod power on the set.  So personal things like that will affect your choice.  As well as things like, are you fishing small sheltered ponds with shorter casts, or are you fishing wide open windy big lake points where you are bombing casts.  You are never going to find one rod to do it all.

[zack75]

Don't overlook the Dobyns Fury rods. Same price range as the others you've listed and they are excellent rods.

 

Words of wisdom!!  Hard to beat the Fury series at that $119 - $140 price point...great rods.  My first swimbait rod early in my addiction was the Fury 795...still fish it today (great for my smaller paddletails and glides.)  Of course I couldn't stop and now own all of the Champion series sticks. Great rods.  

[Bassmaster153]

What weights do you realistically think the Dobyns Champion 8ft mag heavy can throw its rated for 3-10 oz

[bigpoppabass]

Also with experience u will find that some baits 3oz or less can be thrown on surprisingly light gear. They tend to be baits that need less rod work, such as baby wakes and bottom bouncing rof 12 hudds....also if ur a braid to fluoro guy more flex is always good....my glide bait rod is a salmon rod, they don't need much rod action imo....check out swimbait city guys website too he goes surprisingly light for throwing punkers.