9' downrigger rod too long?

[Waterfish]

I am thinking of ordering a Shimano Triton medium action (model TDR-90M2B) downrigger rod (12-25 lb line rating) for brown trout and mackinaw downrigger fishing. The rod is on sale (today is last day of sale) at FishUSA for $29.75. It is a fiberglass rod designed for downrigging, but I don't know if a 9' rod would be hard to use from an 18' boat. Any advice on this? :help:

[fishncliff]

I have 2 of those rods. I use them on my 16' boat for salmon and occasionally sturgeon.

[LuckyStrike]

I use 8 footers because I find it hard to "load" the rigger, when I grab the line to put it into a release.

:twocents:

LS

[rooksdad]

I have fished down riggers for years with 7' rods. This year I bought 2 - 9' Buzz Ramsey I-M7 6-10#. I used them for the 1st time last week at Green Peter. we caught 31 and I loved the fight I got out of those rods.

The most important thing to remember about downriggers is, you have to have a rod that can pick up a lot of line to keep tension on the hook and fish becaue if the fish breaks the clip there is a big belly of slack line between the rod and fish. A 9 footer can do that a little better than 8.6.

Good luck.