The Extreme 784 is a great rod for 1/2 Oz jigs. The Champion 734 is a very versatile rod, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, plastics, lipless cranks...

Champion 736 is great for heavier stuff, inline swimbaits, 1 Oz jigs, burrito swimbaits

There is 100% no doubt about that. I was originally going to get a Fury 735 since they were only $90 on TW a few weeks back. After going to a local Academy and getting my hands on one, I vetoed that. The Sierra and Kaden series, however, are on a different level. Spent the extra money on a Sierra and made the right decison. I had a Kaden 714 and returned it the day I got back from the lake. Nice rod, just didn't didn't like it for it's intended purpose. Replaced with a Falcon Cara and am happy so far.

I don't understand the Fury series. You can get a Falcon Lowrider for the same price, which is light years ahead of the Fury

Good to hear, and so far, I agree. They are apples and oranges to the Fury, which is what I was going to get orignally. I got the 735 for frogs and "moderate" punching. I've been using an absolute broomstick of a Castaway for this for quite some time, and the Sierra is a significant upgrade for sure. Nice moderate tip but tons of backbone behind it.

I saw all of the posts about all of the issues regarding warranties etc. I had a question about the replacement policy and sent an email to Dobyns/GSM and got a reply back a couple of days later. About that time I also saw a post from a gentleman who explained that he was a Dobyns dealer at Fork. I decided that I was going to go directly to him at Lake Fork Marina and deal with someone face to face. I never mind running to Fork for any reason even if it isn't for fishing.

So what happened? Did you exchange at LFM?

I haven't been there yet. If I don't go practice for my next tournament next weekend I will head down there on Saturday.
I will post the results but the guy that I contacted made me feel like this will be a good experience.

Please do, I have one that the tip broke off on a hook set, need to exchange it

Don't know anything about all the rods in that series, but I have the Fury 795SB rod and I don't think it's garbage. I haven't had it long, so time will tell, but I did catch a 6 pounder several weeks ago with it throwing an A-rig and it worked great. I went to their office in Sulphur Springs for the first time in the summer and I met Bryce and he treated me great. He took care of me on the $80 no questions asked replacement of a broken rod as it was used bought on TFF and I didn't have an original receipt. I'd been thinking about getting a 2nd swimbait rod, for larger A-rigs and smaller and lighter swimbaits, but I just didn't want to spend a lot of money. I was looking at the Champions XP and then started to look at the Fury's at $140 pp. He went to the back room and came back with a brand new Fury 795SB rod still in plastic with price tag and asked if I would want it for $80? He said it went to a retail shop and a guide had been broken on transport, so it came back to the shop where they replaced the guide in house, but their policy was it couldn't go back to retail, so it got discounted. I left a happy camper! Time will tell how good of a rod it will be, but at that price I'm very happy with it.

Several people on this forum have suggested to newcomers wanting to start throwing mid-size swimbaits and glidebaits that don't have the right rod, and don't want to spend a lot to get the Fury 795SB rod, so I'm not sure everyone on this forum thinks that particular rod is garbage. I'm sorry to see that SS office get closed and thanks Bryce for taken care of me. FYI, I'm not a Dobyns cult member, but I do have a couple of their rods and enjoy fishing them. I know one thing for sure, the fish don't care what rod us fisherman are using.

I figured there would be a good amount of dobyns pro staffers come by to help out.

I don't have any of the Fury/Sierra series... but I do have lots of Champs, a few Extremes, and a handful of Xtasy's... I was disapointed with the intial sale and how the employyes were treated, as I suspect most were. And I've seen these buyouts ruin many outdoor brands especially when Bowhunting started getting so much more popular back in the late 1990's/early 2000's. But it was Gary's company and he ran it for a long time and deserved a nice retirement.

The subsequent sale to PE really bothered me though, but it was out of Gary's control at that point. Apparently GSM was still going to honor the Military discount (which is one of the best in the industry), not sure if PE will change that. However I'm not sure I'll be buying any more Dobyns. I can't afford to dump and rebuy across the board as I have over 30 Dobyns Rods, but will be looking at other brands for future purchases like ALX, Fitzgerald, maybe even going back to Loomis.

I'm still upset that some of my rods say "Mike Long Signature Rod"

Nothing throws a weighted-feathered treble hook better.....
Those rods have the perfect action for keeping those big girls pinned up in the gut or high fin

Agreed. The 795SB rod has the backbone to get that belly hooked biggun out of the thickest of cover, from what I’ve heard

Lake Fork Resort has a big selection of Dobyns rods.