Right now I have a 5’ Phenix custom build that I bought at Mudhole from one of the guys that works the counter. The handle is like an ice rod with very little behind the reel. Good balance and action and surprisingly strong for its size. You’ve all seen it in some of my pics, the one with some rattlesnake skin on the bottom just ahead of the grip. I don’t stand for long periods so bank fishing isn’t something I do much of. I like and use my 5’6” rods, of which I have a few. Everything I have is between 5’ and 7’. I’ve handled some of the longer ones and they just don’t have the feel that I like. Some are so parabolic that I don’t know how a person would cast them. Victor uses 7’6” rods for float fishing open water and I’d like to fish one before I decide about them. I had a 4’6” Shakespeare micro that was cool but I have storage issues for the forty rods I have now and it didn’t survive one of my purges to thin the herd. I like rods to be a little faster action than a lot of the UL rods I’ve seen.