When I first learned to fish soft plastic baits, I was taught to cast, pay out some line if needed to get a straight fall, then, raise the rod to 12 o clock position, and work my plastic baits with hops, between 10 and 12 o clock position. Back then ( early 80s), our rods were 51/2 ft long. This retrieve style has worked well for a long time. I just picked up my first 7ft rod, a Fenwick casting rod. I've been using 6'6 and 6' ft rods. Last night, my friend Mike and I were fishing a quarry lake near home. Mike likes a 6 ft rod for plastic worm fishing, and he's good at it. On this lake, were almost always target casting. Blowdowns, an old dock, weed lines etc. Mike was catching two fish to my one. After an hr or so, he said," I can tell what's wrong here. Your moving the bait away from the fish". It never occurred to me that the longer rod would take up slack line so much faster. It's simple, but Mike's bait was staying in the strike zone with short hops. My bait, fished on the longer rod, was probably moving the bait three ft or more away from the target. I had failed to adjust my distance, in moving the bait forward. Sometimes,( many times) the bass won't leave the security of a good cover spot, and chase your bait into open water. Many folks have started bass fishing with longer rods, but they weren't available years ago. Just an observation, and I thought I'd put this out there. It pays to adjust your lift/ drop retrieve based on your rod length. I'll get used to the longer rod in time, and, I can see many benefits to a longer stick. It's what I love about bass fishing. There's always something new to learn.
