Irvin, the boat creates a pressure and shadow and noise. Getting the baits to them before all that happens is best, so the longer the better. 14' seems to be popular. Douglas lake in East Tennessee has folks pushing cranks a lot and that means adding 1 to 6 ounces of weight, and there are a few folks over there using 20' rods but that's the extreme and they were bought on clearance. This allows the baits to travel the proper speed and stay out of trouble. It takes a lot of rods out of the picture as they won't handle the extra weight. I know a little about BnM and nothing about the Ozark rods folks speak of. In the BnM the pro series troller(PST) will do everything but are a bit stiffer. I use the Bucks Graphite Jig pole (BGJP) to spider rig, longline jigs and cranks and about everything else except push cranks as they won't take the weight. Good luck, lots to choose from......Skeet.