sam vimes
Well-known member
It's not remotely clear cut. Everything depends upon the action and power of the rods in question. A soft long rod can offer far less control than a much shorter rod.
I'm not a great fan of rods shorter than 11' and won't use them unless a situation (encroaching vegetation, narrow rivers/becks) demands their use. However, I can acknowledge that some of my misgivings aren't entirely logical. At least some of my dislike stems from the fact that when I was a lad, the only sub 11' rods were either spinning rods or rubbish starter kits. Only old boys (mostly long in the tooth carpers and cane enthusiasts) and numpties seemed to use short rods when I was starting out. All of my mates and contemporaries aspired to 13' match rods. Only the odd one had shorter 11/12' rods. I only remember one having a 14' rod and that was a thing of wonder. However, it did prevent him fishing a few swims on the local farm pond.
I'm not a great fan of rods shorter than 11' and won't use them unless a situation (encroaching vegetation, narrow rivers/becks) demands their use. However, I can acknowledge that some of my misgivings aren't entirely logical. At least some of my dislike stems from the fact that when I was a lad, the only sub 11' rods were either spinning rods or rubbish starter kits. Only old boys (mostly long in the tooth carpers and cane enthusiasts) and numpties seemed to use short rods when I was starting out. All of my mates and contemporaries aspired to 13' match rods. Only the odd one had shorter 11/12' rods. I only remember one having a 14' rod and that was a thing of wonder. However, it did prevent him fishing a few swims on the local farm pond.