I'll happily concede the point about deep swims but the rivers I normally fish just aren't that deep. I remain unconvinced about better control unless the rod is significantly longer than 13' and then [so far as I'm concerned] the pivot point/girlie wrist thing comes into play. My mate who IS blessed with the arms,wrists,build & general demeanour of a gorilla has gone up to a 14' rod but I maintain that an extra foot is neither here nor there....especially when you are built like him. I could cope with 14' but above that I know I'd struggle.
When it comes to trotting a stick float well [or any float fixed top & bottom] I think there are things more crucial to control/presentation than length of the rod eg float selection ,weight, shotting pattern and how you let the float run at them.
Exactly the scenarios where I use long rods, though now I have found good ones I'll use them in shallower water too to give me the ability to fish that little further out and still retain good control.
