Gary Dobyns created his signature series of rods more or less from the ground up and based on his own specifications. He's relying on production facilities oversees to save costs and rather than recreate the wheel with respect to the necessary infrastructure to sell, distribute and warranty his product, Dobyns has partnered with another rod manufacturer to help with the handling of these duties. Who is that manufacturer you ask? It is the Woodland, Washington based Lamiglas. This is why each and every Dobyns Rods stick features a Lamiglas logo – not because Lamiglas is producing these rods, but out of respect for their help in the sale, distribution and warranty service of the entire Dobyns line. Otherwise, the two companies remain distinctly different.

Lab Tests: The natural next question regarding the Dobyns Rods lineup is, how different are these sticks from the company Gary Dobyns was affiliated with just a few short years ago, Powell Co.? The best place for us to address this question was in our lab and on our RoD WRACK. Though the DX703C X-Fast is not a direct match to our previously reviewed Powell Max 683C X-Fast, in terms of length and price point, it's close enough for the RoD WRACK. To then, broaden our perspective on the DX703C X-Fast, we also brought into the mix our G.Loomis MBR783C GLX and our Kistler He69APC. It's an official, unofficial, medium-heavy-power cage fight!

Real World Test: But enough with tests, measurements and other mundane statistics, how does this rod fish? That's the real question! My first taste of this rod was on that trip to Clear Lake, California in late July of 2007. Dobyns sent back with us a stack of rods for testing consideration among them, of course, was the DX703C X-Fast. On that day, I fished this rod with a Daiwa Alphas Ito Ai 103L. At some point, on our next few trips, I switched things up to also try this rod with the new Shimano Metanium MG - now available in left hand retrieve.

Pitching and Casting: The DX703C is actually benefiting, right now, from an unfair advantage. Not because Gary Dobyns was in tune with us during the early stages of development, and not because he gave us a personal tour of his rod lineup - we TT editors cannot be bought. The DX703C benefits from an unfair advantage over previously tested medium heavy powered rods because over the last few months I've been predominantly throwing swimbaits! Picking up this rod with either the Alphas Ito Ai or Metanium Mg and casting away is like running downhill with the wind at your back right after spending two hours trudging through mud with ankle weights on - it's just not fair!