I’m not very tall. Bout 5’10” and shrinking. One of my favorite spinning rods is a 5’9” Avid for trying to grub, tube and craw fish at docks and fishing up under trees drifting the river. The avid is a bit overkill. But it is a nice set up with a Symetre. 

4 hours ago, Deephaven said:

No need for the pistol grip though, just a shorter butt section is fine.  The days of needing the grip to be how you hold the rod are long gone.  Reels aren't big huge round things anymore.

 

The pistol grip is normally just used for casting.  Palming is not really affected by whether or not one uses a pistol grip vs a "short" modern handle.  Pistol grips have a compactness that helps casting in tight quarters so they still have a proper use case even if they are no longer popular.

They were added because you can't get your hand around a big round reel.  Modern reels are little so any cast can be done without moving your hand defeating the need for a pistol grip.

35 minutes ago, Deephaven said:

They were added because you can't get your hand around a big round reel.  Modern reels are little so any cast can be done without moving your hand defeating the need for a pistol grip.

 

Non sequitur.  I have only ever used low profile casting reels. My current favorites are these:

Most of my rods are short, my 3 decade old 5'6" Berkley Lightning Rods, one is a "old" model LR16 pistol grip and the other is a "new" LR15 straight handle ( SHORT straight handle ), GLoomis CR721,722, 723 and 724 ( 6' ), spinning rods are "longer" 6 ft Berkley Lightning, 6 ft Bosco, 6'6" GLoomis SJR782 and Shimano Compre MH. 

 

Why so short ? crowded conditions, if fishing from the bank there's a lot of obstructions, if it's from the "boat" then my compadre is quite close since it's a 12 ft tub, sorry, I mean jonboat. 

Longer is def the new norm & it isn’t going back. I’ve owned a few 7’6” flipping sticks and I just couldn’t get used to em. 6’8”-7’ is probably my sweet spot but they’ll pry my 6’3” cumaras out of my cold dead hands. I REALLY wish I could go back in time and just go ham on the gen 1 cumaras when they were on close out. 

I picked up a Fenwick 505 5' Medium pistol grip casting rod.  Combine that with an Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 1500C or 2500C and it's a fun little outfit.  Or even add a Black Max or Pro Max 1600C in the mix!  Not going to replace 7'+ rods by any means, for for a local farm pond and finesse bass stuff, it should be fun.

Back in the day I used a 5.5 but now I wasn't sure what I'll like so I purchased a 7.4 MHMF, 7.1 MF and 6.6 MHF. Same brand to make sure that the differences are consistent.

Already got few fish on the 7.1 and 7.4 while the 6.6 will arrive on Friday.

The only meaningful difference so far is weight and handle length. I wonder if the 6.6 will change that.

Both of my ultralights are 5'6 after I broke my 7 foot Fenwick twice because of it's length and whipiness. My Ned Rigs/Senkos rod that's caught 90% of my bass this year is a 6'0 St. Croix Triumph. I like shorter rods for the convenience of not banging into everything, especially since I do alot of kayak fishing and fishing off covered docks. 

Maybe I'm odd, but even years ago I never felt comfy with shorter rods, i.e. anything under 6'8". I'm 6'1", even when I fished from a float tube, shortest rod was 6'10". I fish the bank a bunch, all of my rods except one is 7'1" or longer, they just feel better to me. Oh, and the short one, is 6'9" only because the brand and action, ect was only available in that size.