Rod action reviews for heavy cover

[zippyduck]

Preparing for my Guntersville trip I was loading my heaviest rods with new line and for the heck of it started to look at the actions and powers.

The three rods I looked at are.

Dobyns Champion DC736c Heavy xtra fast flippin, pitchin, frog rod
Abu Garcia Villain7' MH fast
Dobyns Xtasy DRX755c Mag heavy fast

All three were loaded with 50lb power pro braid.

Tip action
I tied a half ounce weight on all three to see how much tip was on them. I let it hang with two feet of line. The Villain and Champion both had the same amount of tip and xtra fast actions. Both of them started from the middle of the blank.
The Xtasy had a Extremely good tip a fast action but the tip action started in the final quarter of the rod.

Powers
The Xtasy had more power than either of the other two. This comes from the blank stopping 3/4 of the way up the rod.
The Villain was 2nd with a little less tip action than the Champion.
And barely 3rd was the Champion 736.

All three had power to spare. All three are excellent frog rods.

Now pitching was the next step for rods of these powers.
Same 1/2 oz weights.

This was no contest.
the Xtasy was more accurate and at a much farther distance despite the 7'5" length.
Then the Champion was next with accuracy and distance.
The Villain is harder to pitch with but not horrible.

Sensitivity

I have a gravel driveway with a stone border and wood chips on the other side. A great place to test sensitivity.

Again no contest

The Xtasy is heads above any rod I have ever held. I felt every bump on the woodchips let alone every crevice on the stone border.

Now the other two would need an expert to tell the difference. The woodchips were barely detected but the graveled was like running across a large rasp. Both were very sensitive but no where near the Xtasy.

Now to conclude this needs to compare prices.

The Villain and DC736c are reasonably priced and would be at the top of my list for frog rods. The Dc736c is my go to frog rod.
I have kept the Villain as a back up frog rod as it is a little heavier than the champion but still a good rod.

The Xtasy is by far better at everything and more sensitive than my hand. But at a much higher price tag it must have more uses to be worth it. And it does! I have used it with a jig ledge fishing, Toad fishing in the slop, pitching the pads, and frogging.

If in need of a frog rod only Buy the Dc736c.
If you want a universal heavy cover rod that can be used for any bottom contact situation then spend the Xtra dime on the Xtasy.

There is going to be more Xtasy DRX755c rods in my future.