You will get lots of opinions on this. Mine is that 10 1/2 feet is good. For big rivers, like the Thompson, 12 feet is not too much, and I see Loomis just introduced a 13 foot float rod. But I like the 10 1/2 foot. You need the extra length to keep the line off the water and to allow a fixed float when fishing water up to 10 feet deep. Lamiglads makes several excellent 1 0 1/2 foot float rods. Shimano makes some inexpensive float rods too.