Cabela's sent me the 11-foot 8-wt CAbela's rod you mention for a product review and, while it's a nice rod, I have to agree with the above posts. 11 feet is a lot of single-handed rod to swing for any length of time. At one time I had a thing for long rods and built a 10 1/2-foot Hardy and an 11- foot Loomis. After a single season I found myself abandoning them in favor of my 9 1/2-footers. The advantage of the very long rod is, of course, improved line-handling and mending, but this is much better served with a two-hander.