crappie rod length and action – open water

What do you prefer?

Personally, I like a 7-foot one-piece in either ultralight/fast that is good down to 1/32 or a 7-foot light/extra fast good down to 1/16. and most of my rods fall into this length range. I like either rod to top out at 1/4 or 5/16. I seldom fish over 4 pound line and prefer Trilene XL mono, clear, for the basic jig/plastic stuff when the jig weight can range from 1/32 to about 1/16, sometimes as much as 3/32. I do have a couple rods spooled with 6 pound Clam Frost ice line that I use for vertical applications, especially with #3 Rippin Raps or 3/32 heads and plastics that have a bit of profile to them.

Years ago I started the ultra light to light craze with rods in the 5-1/2 foot length but shortly thereafter started to favor 6 foot. After a few seasons with a 6 I began finding favor with 6-1/2 to 7 foot rods and now any open water rod that I use regularly thru the open water season are 7 footers, mostly of the light action ilk. I do have a couple custom builds that are six foot and are rated down to 1/64 that see action only from docks in the very late fall where fishing the pilings is done using 2 pound braid.

Rods longer than 7 feet seem to be too whippy to me. I’ve played with the 9 to 12 foot rods enough to know they are the pits for my style of fishing.

So what do ya’ll use? And why?

I’m all in on the 7 – 7.5 foot rods for crappie fishing. Just the right amount of length to allow a guy to get a bait out there when shore fishing in the spring. 1/16 ounce jigs of all colors (white and pink are first choice) with 1″ chartreuse gulp shad. Deadly bait when they are on the chew.

I have several 7.5 ft rods in both UL and light action. My ST Croix panfish were my Favorite until late last summer. I picked up a Temple Fork ( TFO ) Trout – Panfish II in 8″ Light fast action. This is a 2 piece rod but that just fine with me. Much easier to store. This quickly became my new favorite panfish rod. The extra length allows for longer cast and it also helps with faster line pickup when setting the hook out at the end of cast. At around 120.00 price point I feel like its an incredible value as well. If anyone is looking at getting a new panfish rod, I’d give this one a serious look.

I shore fish crappie, 8 foot is what I’m fishing with unless I’m fishing jigs or mini raps. Soft with lots of flex for launching a jig and minnow with a bobber past the shore weeds. Also to set the hook slowly. I havent tried the 12 foot or 15 foot crappie specific rods.

I love the Diawa Kage Ultralight series of rods, particularly the one-piece, light, XF action in both the 7’9″ and the 7’7″ version. These do double duty as hair jig rods for smallies in the spring. These rods are paired with a Vanford 3000 and 6lb braid/mono leader. I like the light weight, sensitvity, and long-casting aspect of this set-up.

All of my crappie rods fall into the 7′ to 7’3″ range and all light action.

Yep most of mine are 7ft to 7.5 and a split between UL and L. I prefer the UL when bobber fishing it seems.

https://youtube.com/@ifishcatfish?si=rhVzvnsFs4ATPlSM

This guy knows a lot about panfish gear