Just in case there are still some doubters out there about the benefits of long rods for float fishing...
Unlike a lot of the folks on this board, I only own a few rods. My regular steelhead rod is an 8 1/2 ft loomis, great for drifting, pulling plugs, etc. Yesterday I decided to try a long rod so I strapped a small spinning reel on my 9 1/2 Sage RPII (fly rod). Floated some jigs thru a couple nice runs nearby. Just an extra foot made an incredible difference in line control. Really opened my eyes. Now I'm going to have to get a ten footer or so and I imagine it will be my main rod on medium to large rivers. Thanks to everyone who has contributed the good info on equipment.

My vote is for a longer rod. I HAD a gl2 10.5' 10- 20#rod that I could not stand to use do to its lack of feel. I have a couple of 10.5 ' cabelas custom rods I have built for around 100 bucks that have a great feel to them. Cabelas has a great return policy if needed. If you can make your own rods and don't mind saving some money, I would recommend giving them a try. They have discontinued the extra fast model , but have a mod-fast action rod that is more than capable of dealing with a big nate or two

Sebastian is right about the longer rod working great for spoons. The extra length helps minimize the pull from the swing.

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Marty
www.steelheader.net
marty@steelheader.net

LOOMIS 1143c 9'6'' is the best in my opinion.

I don't agree, I think that rod is an excellent drift rod(my favorite) but is much too short to be an effective float rod.