I was given a rod from my father in law a while back and recently came across it cleaning my garage. It's a Mike Cordell 5'6" MH rod. It says crankbait on it. My question is what can I use it for? What size/depth of crankbaits can I use with it, as it seems awfully short to me. I believe it's from the late 80s or early 90s. The reel that was on it was dated 89.

I'm assuming it's a pistol grip casting rod? If that's the case it would make a decent close quarters spinnerbait rod. 

It is not a pistol grip rod. I'll post a pic of it tomorrow.

5'6 ? I'm using that puppy to skip under boat docks

Yeah, the early 80s there was the Cordell rods and that was a common length, that rod will be good for and shallow to mid depth cranks or spinnerbaits in open water. That was a time when a 6'6" rod was considered long and most 7' rods were of the salmon and steelhead variety,

I have an odd rod  . Now that's funny!

I have an odd rod  . Now that's funny!

haha...that was my pickup line when i first met my wife, "wanna see an odd rod"