Length of fishing pole question....

[FBM357]

I noticed the majority of the Crappie fishermen on this board use rods of 10ft. or more. Why? (it's a question of curiosity) Is there a distinct advantage over shorter rods (i.e. I mainly use 5'6" - 7' rods for freshwater fishing)?

[majflyboy]

Depends on the type of fishing. Single pole jig fishing, you want the jig far enough away from the boat so as not to spook them. I use 8' PST's when pulling cranks, along with 16, and 12'ers.

[PIGINTHEPIGPEN]

I don't like to use anything over 12'. I have 2-12' ..2-10'6'' and 1..11'6". 85% of the fishing I do is Vertical Jigging. I use these because I don't want my boat to be right on top of a brush pile. I like to be a couple of feet off the brush pile. With the longer rods, I can be a few feet away and drop my jig right on top of it. The longer rods seem to be more Sensitive to me as well.

[CrappiePappy]

... rods over 10' :p Longest rod I have is a 9' ESP PowerJig rod. But, yeah ... those that spider rig, vertical jig, and other similar techniques, do tend to use much longer rods. As mentioned, they are used to get the bait away from the boat ... and also to spread their baits over a wider path. There are some "advantages" of having a longer rod, but it's dependant upon technique used. Other than a wider path & distance from boat, longer rods can have an advantage over a shorter rod when fishing with a float. The longer rod picks up slack line & more line "distance" upon rod lift/hookset.
The long rods have their place, but they can also be cumbersome & unwieldly in certain instances & conditions ... such as a confined space, an area with overhanging obstacles, etc.

Generally speaking, I use my rods in this manner :

5-6' rods .... confined area casting/dock shooting
7-8' rods .... open area casting
8-9' rods .... slip float/FnF/tightline

I don't have a boat, and my fishing partners boats are not equipped with rod holders ... therefore, trolling methods are seldom employed (with the exception of one rod in hand, on rare occasions). I'm mainly a one rod jig slinger type of angler :D that uses "other" techniques as Plan B backup methods.

... cp

[CatFan]

I like a 12' rod when the fish are shallow to dip a minnow or jig close to cover. Really handy dropping into thick stuff that you couldn't cast to. I also like a longer pole for bobber fishing because the pole helps keep the bobber from drifiting around the boat.

They also have the advantage of allowing a very slow cast that won't throw the minnow off the hook.

I have a couple of 10' one piece poles, a 10' telescopic B'n'M that has to be 20 years old, and a couple of BPS 12' telescopics.

I got the 10' one piece poles to use to try to get into spider rigging. I like the telescopic poles when I don't know how I'm going to be fishing.

[The Lip RIPPERS]

Long rods are great for disecting cover, you can fish a large arc pattern with a 10' rod and not move the boat until the area is completly fished. Wading rods dont need to be over 10' and most times 8' to 9 1/2'ers. are about right. One aspect to remember when jiggin in hand with a 10' rod, your really only using 9' of workable rod unless you stretch out.