I actually have a couple of 5'6 gander mountain vortex rods. They are a gem at only $19.99. I never did a review of them, but i have used them time and time again and they are great rods. they have a moderate action which has served me well both with live bait and jigs. i paired them up with mitchell 310 reels and spooled up with 6lb hi vis (either suffix or vicious) mono. Crappie, sunfish, and even the occasional channel cat have fallen victim to this setup. did battle with a grass carp over 20lbs, and the setup handled it well (except for the line lol)
5'6" and moderate action! Great! At first, it seems . . . counterintuitive, but a short and moderate rod means that under pressure from a fighting fish, its lifting point is much closer to your forward hand. The shorter the distance, the better (less worse) leverage you have.
Odd, too, that I and everyone I know looks at the rather slim tips of small rods and we think, "Hmm! That looks fragile!" But, a rod that is flexed well down the blank is "straight" at its tip as it has passed along the tension to a point much thicker in the rod. It's as if a baton hand-off has occurred down the rod as pressures have risen.
In the attached photo, it shows a rod under very heavy pressure from a large fish. The tip? It is straight for several feet. If the rod snaps, it won't be up at the tip unless it has a flaw in it. A second point here: with the bend in the rod, the lever length is effectively shortened and the more it bends by pressure from the fish, the more there is an offset owing to leverage math. If that rod flexed much higher, the angler would have a much bigger fight.
Brad
