My small stream rod used to be a 6'6" cheap rod, but I gave it away. Now I use an 8 footer. I used to be sold on the shorter rods, but now I am not so sure. They have their pluses and minuses. I plan to build another shorty. My thinking is that in streams where you really can't cast much, longer can be an advantage because all you have to do is reach. anyone remember Dave (Cave) Curran (sp)? He used a 9 footer for small streams. by the way, is he still in the Coast Guard up in alaska? Anyway, my feeling is that if you can get fair casting lanes, shorter helps keep me out of the overhead trees. But then ... with a shorter rod, you need to have more line out so you need a longer lane. Heck, I don't know which is better. depends on the crick I guess. Most of the ones I fish don't have much brush, but do have a lot of hemlock overhead, so shorther is probably a little better IMHO.