I know some of you have "small water" rods that you use mainly for short sessions. Is a 6- or 7-foot medium spinning rod adequate, or do you prefer longer (say, 8- or 9-foot), heavier rods?

I use 7 ft Ugly Stick Lite's. They're tough enough to get tossed in the bed of the truck and still fish well.

6'6" St. Croix Triumphs, medium action. I absolutely love them. I think Justin has one, too.

How heavy a weight can you cast comfortably with those rods?

I have a set of Shimano 8' surf rods I use on small waters and they are capable of casting 4oz 75+yds easily. My new Chub 9' Stalker rod plays the fish incredibly and has the power to cast up to 2oz no problem. I caught a nice Buff on it @ Grapevine the other night and dragged the fish and a brush pile to the net with ease

7' TFO spinning rods mated to Okuma EB30's.

I can cast up to 1 oz without feeling weird.

6.5' Berkley Lightening Rod ultra light...my favorite carp rod.

Open question: do you fish the Method or a bolt rig with your small-water rods, or do just use simpler rigs?

Majority of the time, simple rig. Sweet corn or wheaties dough, or nightcrawler.

My Small Water rods are 3x 6' Cabelas IM6 rods with the $15 Badger reels from BCT. The rods are great. The reels serve their purpose, but if you're going to roll without baitrunners, there are better options out there. I plan on getting some of the Okuma AB30's to put on those rods. I have them all spooled with 6# Cajun Red.

When I'm just freelining bread and only operating one rod, I was using a Berkley Series One rod with a cheap Shimano reel. That was a great pair, but the rod snapped(after 3 years of abuse) recently and I'm now in the market for a replacement.

Chad

i use a 6ft mitchel avcoet light action rod and a berkly lightning 7ft that i cast a 2oz lead reallt far

love my berkley lightning rods