when i first started fishing for salmon all i had was a 6'6" mitchell bass rod and it handled well over 100 fish...i only fished one little tiny river where there is hardly any room to cast, went back out to the old stomping grounds last year and twice earlier this year with an 8'6" lami, had a few gnarly backlashes from trying to cast while my hook and leader was caught in the brush behind me..a 6'6''-7" rod is perfect for those situations, i prefer some pretty heavy line(20#) and tighten that drag down...maybe i'll look into having a 7' med/heavy built for these situations