Hello everyone. New to the site & fairly new to crappie fishing. At the moment I'm fishing from the bank & around the dam area of my lake where a lot of crappie can be caught. I'm mainly here to read & learn but I do have a question about longer crappie rods & was wondering why longer? I'm using a Shakespeare Micro Series 5'6" & it's a fun rod to use & like how it feels. Caught crappie yesterday using a Mr. Crappie Strike King micro tube (red & white) on a 1/8 oz bullet looking jighead. I guess what I'm wondering as a bank fisherman, do I need the longer 8'+ rods or are they mainly for boat fisherman who are able to fish deeper water? Or am I totally missing the boat? (pun intended). Thank you.