Dear clueless,

Keep in mind that if you are doing any casting at all a rod of 7 feet in length will have 2 more feet of line outside the tip than a 9 foot rod will. Since most problems - read snags - occur on the back cast it is something to think about.

I use 9 foot rods all the time on small streams of 12 to 20 feet in width. I don't fish many jump across brooks though.

Regards,
Tim Murphy