I'm looking at two spinning rods and would like to know the difference. Both rods are med extra fast, but one is 6'10" and the other is 7'. The 6'10 says it's a drop shot and the 7' says shaky  head. Is there really a difference other than length? They are both by same manufacturer.

All things being equal, then really no difference.

6 hours ago, lmbfisherman said:

All things being equal, then really no difference.

Thank you, kinda what I was thinking but wanted another opinion.

Normally it is marketing, but there are 2 kinds of extra fast tapers. The common thing with an extra fast taper is where the rod bends, and that is mostly in the top 6" to 10" before it gets into the backbone. The differences are that one could be pretty stiff while another is pretty soft, and being that the rods are technique specific tells me what the tip sections are like. If you want a rod for basically all-purpose finesse, get the shakey head rod, the reason is drop shot specific rods tend to have a very soft tip which makes it hard to really do any thing else with the rod. My drop shot rod is one that is a medium light all-purpose type deal, it is softer in the tip section than medium power rods but it is still stiffer than a drop shot specific rod. There are 2 reasons drop shot rods have really soft tips, well 3 reasons actually, the first reason is that it lets you move your bait without moving the weight as the tip section will usually bend a good bit before the weight moves, the second reason is that you don't always feel bites with drop shot fishing, especially when the water is deep, the tip is soft that it bends without the fish feeling the rod so you can see the bite without feeling it. The third reason is that drop shot hooks are smaller, and that soft tip really helps in keeping the fish hooked as the softer tip will help keep you from applying too much pressure and pulling the small hook free. So if you see a rod has a drop shot label and you want something to do a lot of different things, get one not technique specific or one labeled shaky head as the type of rod for a shaky head makes a great finesse rod in general.

Thanks smalljaw, great explanation . I have mostly specific rods, but carrying average of 7 set ups and this will make 8 gets overly cluttered in my little pond jumper. I wanted a generalized finesse  set up so I will persue getting the shaky head rod. The rods in question are Lew's Custom Lites.

38 minutes ago, racedad said:

Thanks smalljaw, great explanation . I have mostly specific rods, but carrying average of 7 set ups and this will make 8 gets overly cluttered in my little pond jumper. I wanted a generalized finesse  set up so I will persue getting the shaky head rod. The rods in question are Lew's Custom Lites.

I think my Walmart just got those same rods in. I know one was a 6'10" and the other was a 7' can't remember the other specifics other than they were sliver and black Lew's brand. And we're like $50  I hadn't seen them before at my Walmart. 

They looked decent but I was in a hurry so I planned to go back later and check them out. 

7 hours ago, S. Sass said:

I think my Walmart just got those same rods in. I know one was a 6'10" and the other was a 7' can't remember the other specifics other than they were sliver and black Lew's brand. And we're like $50  I hadn't seen them before at my Walmart. 

They looked decent but I was in a hurry so I planned to go back later and check them out. 

$50 bucks! Better jump on that deal. Everywhere I have seen are between $149-$179 depending on model.

Might not be the same ones I'm just guessing. Is that where you saw them?

Heck I'll go buy all of them if they screwedup there was only 4 two of each one. 

1 hour ago, S. Sass said:

Might not be the same ones I'm just guessing. Is that where you saw them?

Heck I'll go buy all of them if they screwedup there was only 4 two of each one. 

I haven't seen any at the Mart. I bought two casting models recently at a local dealer.

2 hours ago, S. Sass said:

I think my Walmart just got those same rods in. I know one was a 6'10" and the other was a 7' can't remember the other specifics other than they were sliver and black Lew's brand. And we're like $50  I hadn't seen them before at my Walmart. 

They looked decent but I was in a hurry so I planned to go back later and check them out. 

Nope, not the same rods, not even close.

Yeah I saw them last night and they are $39 had two 6'10" Crankbait Hank Parker Lew's rods and two other 7' Hank Parker Lew's brand rods. It was a very stiff rod for a Crankbait rod to say the least. It did have the nice Made in China sticker on it as well. 

The only difference is 2" shorter tip. Buy the rod with the length you prefer and use it for both presentations.

Tom