Short 5-5’6” rod for small river and stream smallies

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Craigthor
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Short 5-5’6” rod for small river and stream smallies

Post by Craigthor » Tue Jan 12, 2021 11:11 am

Looking to start some Smallie and walleye searching once winter is over. Love trouting but it requires to much travel so wife gets upset I’m gone all the time. Prefer a spinning rod of 5-5’6” for tossing 1/8-1/4ish ounce jigs and craw plastics. Probably a 2000 series reel of some kind will sit on it loaded with braid. Any thoughts don’t want to break the bank the current house projects are already doing that.

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Re: Short 5-5’6” rod for small river and stream smallies

Post by Bronzeye » Tue Jan 12, 2021 5:01 pm

I have no recommendation for a rod that short, but I caught hundreds of smallies up to 3 lbs. on a 5'10" Loomis SJR 700 rod from streams. If you find one used, you might get it for a reasonable price.

I don't think Loomis makes that model anymore. Here is a discussion of it 14 years ago; Cal says nice things about his experience with it:
viewtopic.php?t=6368

Its mag-lite taper allows it to cast easily 1/16 to 1/4 oz. lures. The tip is soft enough for crappies, but it will set the hook of a Brewer Weedless Slider head through 4" worms, too. Two-pound smallies are a blast on it, but if a three-pounder gets downstream from you it is not easy to pull it against moderate current to lip-land it.

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Re: Short 5-5’6” rod for small river and stream smallies

Post by Houndfish » Wed Jan 13, 2021 8:31 pm

Bronzeye wrote:
Tue Jan 12, 2021 5:01 pm
I have no recommendation for a rod that short, but I caught hundreds of smallies up to 3 lbs. on a 5'10" Loomis SJR 700 rod from streams. If you find one used, you might get it for a reasonable price.

I don't think Loomis makes that model anymore. Here is a discussion of it 14 years ago; Cal says nice things about his experience with it:
viewtopic.php?t=6368

Its mag-lite taper allows it to cast easily 1/16 to 1/4 oz. lures. The tip is soft enough for crappies, but it will set the hook of a Brewer Weedless Slider head through 4" worms, too. Two-pound smallies are a blast on it, but if a three-pounder gets downstream from you it is not easy to pull it against moderate current to lip-land it.
I have one of those rods and it's exactly what the OP is looking for. It handles a 3/16oz Ned with ease but will still load and cast a true 1/8oz hair jig. I only have a single beef with it, which is that the guides are needlessly big, but that seems to be standard on older Loomis rods. Someday I will replace the ones on mine with smaller, lighter guides.

It's got a surprising amount of power, I hooked into this brute of a chain pickerel with it a few years ago and muscled it in very quickly:
Image

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Re: Short 5-5’6” rod for small river and stream smallies

Post by nfnband » Fri Jan 15, 2021 8:47 am

Check out Gloomis Classic spin jig line of rods. https://www.gloomis.com/content/gloomis ... N_JIG.html

If you hit youtube chineese rods seem to have a following for stream/river BFS fishing. Unfortunately they are all 2pc. The Shorter rods tend to be in the UL-L range. Another option is cutting the butt down on a rod you like, most shorter rods remove a few inches from the butt to begin with.

The industry is geared to fishing off a bass boat. Shorter rods are easier when your feet are on the ground and your dealing with trees ect. Not every cast can be a full over hand cast. I'm a big fan of 6'8-6'10 rods myself.

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Re: Short 5-5’6” rod for small river and stream smallies

Post by ftl1951 » Fri Jan 15, 2021 11:07 am

I have a G Loomis Trout/Panfish spinning rod 5'2' TSR621S that is very enjoyable for such a short rod. It is a bit soft, but it has surprising power. According to G Loomis, it pairs really well with 4lb test line, but i use 3lb most of the time when using this rod. I have it set up with a 1000 series Daiwa Ballistic FW and find it is just right. There are other rods available that might suit your needs a little better, but most of the others are 2-piece spinning rods. I have never felt any reduction in performance using a 2-piece rod and i have some that are even more sensitive than some of my 1-piece versions. That being said, the choices are infinite and so are the prices. they can range from well under $100 to well over $500. I think there are some JDM rods that have a good amount of butt strength with super light tip action for sensitivity that suit small mouth fishing really well. many of those are shorter in length than most US market rods. Good luck.

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Re: Short 5-5’6” rod for small river and stream smallies

Post by TravisNY » Sat Jan 16, 2021 4:45 pm

The classic Loomis spins are gone.

If you weren’t dead set on 1/4 plus offering total weight (all I fish are river smallmouth) because I don’t throw that heavy (wedge factor) I would have stated 6400. It’s gone but can be found.

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Re: Short 5-5’6” rod for small river and stream smallies

Post by Edward78 » Tue Mar 09, 2021 3:34 am

The St. Croix Premier 5'6" Medium Spinning Rod PS56MF might work for you,

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Re: Short 5-5’6” rod for small river and stream smallies

Post by Real » Tue Mar 09, 2021 3:52 am

Shimano Compre Walleye Series has what you are looking for.

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Re: Short 5-5’6” rod for small river and stream smallies

Post by Hulkster » Tue Mar 09, 2021 11:04 am

I have the Loomis GL3 SJR700 which would be perfect for what you are looking for.

however, not sure if these rods are still in production, the one i have is 16 years old now.

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Re: Short 5-5’6” rod for small river and stream smallies

Post by Hulkster » Tue Mar 09, 2021 11:06 am

LOL Whoops i see the rod i am talking about has already been mentioned.

ok well thats two votes for it. I'm sure it must be available online somewhere

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Re: Short 5-5’6” rod for small river and stream smallies

Post by Hulkster » Tue Mar 09, 2021 11:08 am

LMAO i see the link provided was from my original post about purchasing it from 2006 LMAO

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