Shorter rods

dann · Oct 16, 2018

I suspect I am in the minority here but does anybody use shorter rods?

I have always used 12 foot rods but recently I picked up a Rovex Lure Pro 8 footer as it folds in 4 and fits into a protected tube so great for taking with me on holiday or sticking in a backpack. It is a rod I enjoy using even when I don't need to be as mobile.

Around the same time I picked up some 8 foot stalker carp rods for the kids who fish with me a lot and even when they are not with me, I tend to use these rods as they are great for getting in between the trees for some good swims on the river.

I very rarely take the 12 foot rods now, they just feel odd and seem to get in the way. I thought I'd miss the longer rods when playing fish and keeping them away from snags but I am yet to find the shorter rods a problem.

When looking around at the river or on still-waters, I very rarely see shorter rods. Is it just me then?

S-Kippy · Oct 16, 2018

As an occasional carper I got meself a pair of 10 footers. For the sort of carping I do which does not involve hurling baits into the next county they are terrific. I'll never use my 12 footers again.

As you say I've yet to find anything my 12 footers do/did that the 10 footers cant. They are so much nicer to use too.

I'm perfectly happy using shorter feeder/lead rods on stillwaters too though I wouldnt go below 11 ft on a river.....but thats just me.

steve2 · Oct 16, 2018

Most of my fishing these days is done with shorter rods. Pike rods 10ft, lure rods 5ft to 8ft, tench rods 11ft. This is because of the waters I now fish are small where no long casts are needed and the trees would get in the way with longer rods.
Most anglers I see even on these small water still use rods in the 12ft to 13ft range carp and pike rods.

Peter Jacobs · Oct 16, 2018

Mostly these days the shorter rods, 9 and 10 feet, tend to have been made and aimed at the commercial fishery market where a longer rod can be a disadvantage . . . .

I have Preston 9 and 10 feet models for pellet waggler and method feeder work and they are excellent rods for those purposes.

Like S-Kippy, above, I’d not consider using a rod of less than 11 feet on a river

dann · Oct 16, 2018

Interesting, thanks for the feedback.

May I ask why the longer rod for the river, casting distance or being able to extend past the bank and vegetation?

S-Kippy · Oct 16, 2018

dann said:
Interesting, thanks for the feedback.

May I ask why the longer rod for the river, casting distance or being able to extend past the bank and vegetation?

Not casting distance....not for me anyway though it may be an issue for some. Being able to get past bankside herbage is one reason, another is to get line out of the water if fishing a river at range but primarily ( for me) is because it just feels "right". I'm talking here about legering not floatfishing but I'd happily floatfish with an 11 footer ( provided the river wasnt 15 ft deep) but nothing shorter as I think you lose too much control. I'd be shorter on a stillwater....9-10ft because longer rods get a bit unwieldy if you are "busy" fishing.

You wont find many float rods shorter than 11 ft or feeder rods longer than 12 ft. There are some but they are for quite specific purposes. Personally I think that's true of most rods ie that there is an optimum length for the job it was designed to do. Its why float rods tend to be 13-14 ft and feeder rods 9-10 ft ( for commercials) and a foot or so longer for river work. Lure rods are typical much much shorter....you wouldnt want to be drop shotting all day with a 13 ft rod I suspect.

The length of carp rods IMO is largely a question of what the carp fashion police say is "trending" this year ie whatever the trade think they can flog the man who already has everything.

sam vimes · Oct 16, 2018

Lure rods have always tended to be shorter that match type rods. There's often little to be gained from having a longer lure rod.

Until commie stillwaters came along, very few short coarse/match rods existed once fibre glass and (especially) carbon started being used for rod blanks. For many years (80s and 90s), 13' was pretty standard for a float rod. In the days of cane, shorter rods were not unusual, perhaps due to the weight of the material. In recent years, 12', or less, have become increasingly common. Partly, this has been driven by the fashion for leaving rods made up. Partly by the rise of commie venues.

I do very little but float fishing these days. Of a fair horde of float rods, I have just one less than 11'. This is because I rarely fish relatively shallow waters where a very short cast is the norm (commies). My usual venues are rivers and deep gravel pits. I'm more likely to be found using rods of 15' than anything else. Occasionally I may go to a 17'er or down to 13'. If I fish a local beck, I will use an 11' float rod. Anything shorter is pretty pointless, and may even be unusable.

Keith M · Oct 16, 2018

There are lots of situations where I would prefer to have a longer rod rather than a shorter rod.

When I need to strike at any real distance and need a faster line pickup and I need to cast longer distances.
If I need a rod which gives me the ability to play a larger fish away from bankside lillies or weed, and allows me to change the direction of pull from my rod a little easier and faster than a very short rod would allow me to.
If I’m trotting downstream and I need to be able to pick up a lot of line during the strike or when I’m mending line, or I need to fish below the rodtip a lot further out than a shorter rod would allow me to.
If I’m fishing a deep swim of between 12ft or more with a float, when a longer rod allows me to fish without having to use a slider (I strongly dislike having to use sliding floats as they limit the number of ways I can present my bait).

In the above situations I find rods of between 11ft and more (up to 20ft) much better to use than stumpy shorter rods.

However, I do like to use shorter rods if I’m fishing a narrow overgrown stream or stillwater where a longer rod can be a disadvantage to me because of the overhanging branches and bankside vegetation, or if I’m lure fishing, or I’m fishing a float or leger at much closer ranges.

Keith

tigger · Oct 16, 2018

Length of the rod I use is dependant on lots of different things, wether I fish still or running water, the depths of the water, distance I aim to fish, method of fishing, the bankside veg, etc etc the list goes on so it's a case of horses for courses..
I have various lure/spinning rods at varying in lengths form about 5ft to 11ft. If I go jigging off a boat for zander then i'd choose the shorter rod, if lure fishing on a canal which has a lining of reeds or any water with bankside veg then the 11 footer is put to use.
If I could only have one length of rod to cover all applications it would be 13ft.

dalesman · Oct 16, 2018

Cadence make 11' no 2 float rod in two piece, make a excellent short range trotting rod. Was designed as silver fish rod casting standard weighted wagglers with out a through action like the majority carp waggler rods.

YouTube

Jeff Woodhouse · Oct 17, 2018

Not too many years ago, you couldn't find a float rod of less than 12', not a decently made one that is. Perhaps Preston were the first with an 11ft one and I soon acquired one; they were beautiful and I still have it. I even have a 10' (pellet) waggler now although why it should be for pellets only goodness knows. They're handy if you're fishing under a bunch of trees as I was once on the Thame, anything longer than 10ft and you were stuck in the trees.

But as Keith says above, you need a 12ft feeder rod if fishing, even legering, at a distance to get swift line pick-up. You have to account not only for the distance, but also the bow in your line. I even have a 13ft feeder for such places at Clattercote where distance and casting weight are crucial.

On small lakes similar to commercials, I do find that 8, 9, or at most 10ft feeder rods are fine and only this week added yet another 9ft one to the collection. For small rivers up to 15 or so metres across I'll use a 11ft feeder rod. You can't have enough, so I tells the misses.

EDIT: Should say that on Friday I will be fishing with 15ft float rod and centrepin most likely, switching later to the 11ft feeder later on for roach. Horses for courses.

iain t · Oct 17, 2018

I bought a 10ft float rod a few years back when shorter rods were becoming the fad. I wasn't a cheapy but cost me just over £150. This was meant to have a sensitive actioned tip recommended for 2lb to 4lb lines. Thinking it would be good for the narrow Chichester canal. I hated it from the first fish, there was no bite detection in the tip and the overall blank action was **** compared to my longer rods. Nowadays my shortest rod is a 12.6ft heavy Preston float rod followed by a 13ft Drennan silverfish rod and then my most used a Preston 15/17 float rod. Even the 12.6ft heavy has a better control of the line and the tip will register even a small Roach better. The only other rods i own now are 3 x 11ft Avon rods but their action is completely different to those ive mentioned.
Until they can make a 10ft float rod with the same qualities of a 12/ 13ft rod, i will not be buying again.

sam vimes · Oct 17, 2018

iain t said:
Until they can make a 10ft float rod with the same qualities of a 12/ 13ft rod, i will not be buying again.

They could easily do it, but I doubt they believe that there's a big enough market to bother. The vast bulk of float rods of 11' or less are carp/pellet/commie waggler rods. By design, they generally don't have the same kind of action as a classic 13' match rod. There are a few 11' rods that would fit the bill.

Philip · Oct 17, 2018

I like short rods as they are basically allot easier to handle than long ones. Especially for close in fishing in overgrown swims they can be a real advantage.

A while back I got myself 2 pairs of 10 foot Carp rods and I find myself reaching for these more often than the usual 12 & 13 foot rods nowadays for Carping on the river which is usually underarm lob type of distances. The shorter rods are just easier to carry and handle especially in tight swims. The disadvantage is if you need to reach the line over any marginal problems such as weed or snags.

For smaller fish I have one of those Darent Valley 8 foot quiver tip rods..and that’s a nice little rod to use for roaming about and close in link ledgering..where you flick tiny leads under near bank features where even a 11 foot rod can sometimes get in the way. It also has a second tip section that they say is rung for float or drop shotting although in reality both tips are pretty much the same.

I also have a number of lure rods that range from about 5 feet to 9 feet …for things like drop shotting or flinging little lures about where again a long rod can sometimes get in the way.

Finally one other place a short rod is a big advantage is on a boat…long rods can be very difficult to wield on a boat especially if your fishing directly below you, in addition floating about with a long rod poking out over the edge is asking for it to get snapped if you drift too close to the bankside vegetation.

seth49 · Oct 17, 2018

On the fishery I’m a member of the largest of the six waters is only just over an acre, and it’s overgrown in places so casting can be a bit tight.

So I bought two Kodex stalky nine foot carp rods and fitted them with Shimano 4000 baitrunners, just the job and with a test curve of two and three quarters they handle carp well, had plenty too just over seventeen pounds, they will cast a two ounce lead over eighty yards easily, and another good thing is the carp come to the top for netting a lot closer than with a longer rod,I’ve grown to like these a lot in the two years or so I’ve had them.

tigger · Oct 17, 2018

Strange as it sounds, I don't like using a rod shorter than 12ft on most of the smaller rivers I fish, infact I prefer a 13 or 14 foot rod for the biggest part. I find that most of the smaller rivers I fish have much more bankside vegetation than the larger rivers and trying to hold fish out of these marginal weeds is impossible with a shorter rod. I don't mind using a shorter rod for trotting so much on larger rivers if i'm stood out in the flow or if there's a upstream wind, otherwise I would always pick out one of my longer rods.
Short rods are mostly for gnomes!

dann · Oct 18, 2018

tigger said:
Short rods are mostly for gnomes!

Ha ha, that gave me a genuine chuckle. I get called a lot of things but not a gnome, I am 6 foot 5 with arms long enough to drag on the floor when I walk :wh

tigger · Oct 18, 2018

dann said:
Ha ha, that gave me a genuine chuckle. I get called a lot of things but not a gnome, I am 6 foot 5 with arms long enough to drag on the floor when I walk :wh

Your lucky then, you don't even need a rod, you could just glue guides onto your arm and hold the reel in your hand

.
A m8 of mine is 6ft 7 and his thigh waders look like he's wearing wellies lol.
He's got feet to match his legs n'all, infact he struggles to get footwear to fit!

Keith M · Oct 18, 2018

Keith M said:
However, I do like to use shorter rods if I’m fishing a narrow overgrown stream or stillwater where a longer rod can be a disadvantage to me because of the overhanging branches and bankside vegetation, or if I’m lure fishing, or I’m fishing a float or leger at much closer ranges.
Keith

When I say I like a shorter rod when I’m fishing a small overgrown stream the following picture shows one of the small gravel streams that I was talking about which holds Barbel, Chub, Dace, Roach and also a few Carp and ranges between 2 to 4ft deep.

Normally I much prefer to use a longer rod but not in circumstances like the above; (which is the upper reaches of a well known river in Hertfordshire) which I fish using a shorter rod of between 9 to 11ft max.

Keith

tigger · Oct 18, 2018

Blimey Keith, that's a ditch bud

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Shorter rods

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