Why Use A Longer Rod?

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.

Welcome to the site! Use what you enjoy using. That being said, most guys have at least a selection of rod/reel combos and some of us have OCD when it comes to fishing equipment. A long rod will cast longer, but may be less accurate. In a boat there are reasons to use longer rods. Flipping jigs is popular. Dipping is a summertime pattern and it helps to use something long to dip around trees while keeping the boat away from the cover....don't want to spook fish. Brushpile fishing might require a long rod to drop baits vertically around the pile....drop straight down...bring it straight back up and avoid snags. Bottom line...fish with the rod that you like.

What he said....the long rods are not really for casting....they are for vertical fishing and keep the bait further away from the boat....and also make it easier to jig around stumps and brush etc.

The longer rod will give more leverage and handling your fish.
LittleJohn

LittleJohn has a point. The shorter your rod, the less leverage you have when fighting a bigger fish.

Longer rods do cast farther, but they also pick up slack line faster than a shorter rod ... which may mean the difference in getting a good hookset at a distance. That's even more important when using a float at a distance.

You don't necessarily have to go 8-9-10ft in length to reap that benefit. Even a 6.5ft - 7ft rod gives you those benefits over a 5.5ft rod, and they're not that hard to master using them. Just be sure to match the reel to the rod so that it's a balanced outfit. You want to be able to balance the rod/reel on your outstretched finger, placed under the very front edge of your rod's handle. It's not necessary to have it "perfectly" balanced ... but it's better to have it tip towards the reel, rather than the rod tip. There's less stress on your wrist/arm when the weight of the outfit is balanced or slightly handle end heavy, than when it's tip end heavy.

Every reply so far is full of good reasoning. I think you will also find that you can cast much farther with light jig heads with a 7' or longer rod. I prefer the light action for the tip feel but with enough backbone to get good hooksets. Longer rods are usually more forgiving when trying to land larger fish as the tip is usually lighter and gives a little more to help prevent tear out's. You will catch more the farther you stay away from them. Fishing a brush pile with a 6' rod is going to have your boat right on top of the fish spooking them out where as a 12' rod allows you to stay back off of them. Same thing jigging brush off the bank or docks. I carry two 12' for dipping, a 7' set up with a curly tail or road runner, a 7' rigged with a slip bobber and a spare 7'6" just in case I wreck one. FWIW have fun!

I use a 11 and a 12 to dip or vertical jig with...I use 14 footers to spider rig.

I suppose weve all heard of the kiss system. (Keep it simple stupid)
About 25 years ago I was building a house in the keys on a canal lot.
It was fairly close to the inlet from the ocean and fish were numerous there.
The contractor id hired for the masonry work was a black man who had a crew
of people working for him. The one guy had a fishing line out in the canal and tied
off to a branch of a small tree. When the branch shook he'd go hand line in the fish.
It was attached to what is known as a yoyo spool. Anyway he was a nice man and I gave
him a rod and reel I had figuring he would enjoy that more. A few weeks later they came back
to do more work and guess what this guy brought along with him. The yoyo setup.
If you ride along the road down there, there are lots of bridges and many of them will have fisherman.
Many of them are black/ Cuban both men and women. The primary setup for many of them is the yoyo.
These are primarily meat fishermen using the fish for food and they use what works for them and is cheap.
You will find the same thing here along the many canals along the roads, also at the launch areas of lakes.
But there they mainly use long cane poles or the even much longer fiberglass telescopic ones.
I had never even considered such a pole until a few months back when I hired a guy to go out with me and
teach me how to catch crappies. He brought with him 3 telescopic poles without reels and a selection of jigs and that was it.
He had been born and raised at Okeechobee. Next day I drove down there and bought 6 rods at an average cost of about 10 bucks.
They collapse down to about 3' in length and can easily fit in the trunk of a car. Ive even taped those tiny reels on a couple of them.
So next time you drive by one of those old ladies sitting on a bucket along a canal, with a bobber on a very long pole, don't take pity.
Stop and watch and learn something.

It is a way to make a still,or more still vertical presentation and put some distance between you and the bait,and then retrieve bait or fish without having to drag it into or through something..If around the bank you have grass beds,lily pads,brush piles etc. it is more useful than if the water is clear of obstructions and free for short rod presentations and slip bobbers and that sort of thing. If you grew up around oxbows ,swamps and things of that nature they are as common as a crescent wrench on a tool belt. May not be the only tool on there but it gets used a lot.

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Originally Posted by yobuck

I suppose weve all heard of the kiss system. (Keep it simple stupid)
About 25 years ago I was building a house in the keys on a canal lot.
It was fairly close to the inlet from the ocean and fish were numerous there.
The contractor id hired for the masonry work was a black man who had a crew
of people working for him. The one guy had a fishing line out in the canal and tied
off to a branch of a small tree. When the branch shook he'd go hand line in the fish.
It was attached to what is known as a yoyo spool. Anyway he was a nice man and I gave
him a rod and reel I had figuring he would enjoy that more. A few weeks later they came back
to do more work and guess what this guy brought along with him. The yoyo setup.
If you ride along the road down there, there are lots of bridges and many of them will have fisherman.
Many of them are black/ Cuban both men and women. The primary setup for many of them is the yoyo.
These are primarily meat fishermen using the fish for food and they use what works for them and is cheap.
You will find the same thing here along the many canals along the roads, also at the launch areas of lakes.
But there they mainly use long cane poles or the even much longer fiberglass telescopic ones.
I had never even considered such a pole until a few months back when I hired a guy to go out with me and
teach me how to catch crappies. He brought with him 3 telescopic poles without reels and a selection of jigs and that was it.
He had been born and raised at Okeechobee. Next day I drove down there and bought 6 rods at an average cost of about 10 bucks.
They collapse down to about 3' in length and can easily fit in the trunk of a car. Ive even taped those tiny reels on a couple of them.
So next time you drive by one of those old ladies sitting on a bucket along a canal, with a bobber on a very long pole, don't take pity.
Stop and watch and learn something.

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I catch a LOT of fish every year on telescopic poles.

Very underrated as a fish catcher, IMO.

Sounds like subject covered well. I verticle jig mostly so I use 11 footers . But you will find you can get more casting distance out of a 6 or 7 foot rod over a short 4 foot .:twocents

Thanks guys, lot's of great advice. I have a 10ft. telescoping pole but don't use it enough. It would be good around the dam area where I fish. I was looking at those B&M 7ft rods & it felt right. I'd like to find a good reel to pair with & make a nice crappie rod.

Check out the Pro Angler rods also. They make a very nice rod and ship free from Texas.
They have a nice website and you get the owner when you call.

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Originally Posted by gbhill

I was looking at those B&M 7ft rods & it felt right. I'd like to find a good reel to pair with & make a nice crappie rod.

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Whatever reel you decide on, make sure it "balances" the outfit. By that I mean ... you should be able to stick out your finger and place the rod/reel across it, with the very front end of the handle laying across your finger ... and the rod/reel will stay balanced on your finger. It's OK if the rod wants to tip back towards the handle end a little ... but, you don't want it to tip towards the rod tip end with any speed. A handle heavy outfit will feel just a bit heavy in your hand, but a rod tip heavy outfit will stress your wrist & forearm and be uncomfortable to use for any length of time.

It's the same principle as picking up a brick and broom ... if you pick them up together, in one hand, they don't pose much of a problem -- but, if you put the brick on the "straw end" and try to pick them up holding onto the handle end, it "seems" to weigh 10 times as much !!

Catch me out on the lake and you will see 2 12', 2 6'6",2 4" and 4 18" ice rods. The ice rods outfish all the others 2 to 1.

Ive been moving shorter and shorter for casting applications now. I use an 8ft BGJP mostly for jigging brush and lilly pads and pitching slip float rigs short distances. Ive been using my 5'6" for casting and retrieving and longer float fishing.

Of course a 7ft ultralight Shakespeare at Gander Mountain has caught my eye recently for gill fishing.

This year I was lucky enough to get the Creel Clerk job on my local lake and get to see different methods and locations as I run the boat around the lake and interview fisherman. When you see the same few older fellas using the same technic, catching crappie like they do, ya know its worth a try. They use a 10' rod and and cast a jig under a slip bobber set anywhere from 10' - 15', just so their jig clears the brush they're casting to. When I questioned one fisherman as why the long rod he said he'd had trouble in the past with the stop getting line overlap when it was on the reel with a shorter rod. With a 10' rod he could fish just above thermolcline (18-20' in our lake) and keep the stop out of the reel.

We do a lot of bank fishing in our area lots of small streams and river's,oxbow slough's.Catch a lot of fish on a fly rod and auto reel"old style.The Texas fishing forum "the crappie section" has some good info and video's on this subject.They even have an instructor that puts on seminar's on bank fishing,rod's,reels lot of good info.hope this help's and good fishing.

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Originally Posted by jackie53

The Texas fishing forum "the crappie section" has some good info and video's on this subject.

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I could not find any. Can you please post a link?

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Originally Posted by deathb4disco

I could not find any. Can you please post a link?

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Post a link IF the Texas Fishing Forum you're referring to is part of this site.

If NOT ... PM the link to deathb4disco, please. References and links to competing websites are not allowed per Site Rules.

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

Post a link IF the Texas Fishing Forum you're referring to is part of this site.

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I think it's another site.

PM is fine with me.

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Originally Posted by gbhill

Thanks guys, lot's of great advice. I have a 10ft. telescoping pole but don't use it enough. It would be good around the dam area where I fish. I was looking at those B&M 7ft rods & it felt right. I'd like to find a good reel to pair with & make a nice crappie rod.

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The 7' B n' M Sam Heaton's Super Sensitive (SHSS) is a great rod for casting light jigs. I have two of them and use them quite a bit. As far as a reel goes, you could do a lot worse than the Pflueger President in their smallest size, the #6920. Both the rod and the reel go for about $50.00 each. Grizzly Jig has them all.