Shorter rod for salmon trolling?

I have been thinking about getting a shorter rod to use trolling for salmon. Have an Okuma Guide Select 9'6" and like it. It is a bit of a hassle landing fish. Not unsuccessful as yet, but eventually . . . .

Has anyone come across a shorter rod that has an action that works with a ProTroll and the ability to see the pace of the roll and the backbone to muscle in bigger fish?

I might be looking for a purple unicorn, but thought I would ask the group.

I use a 7' Shimano Trevala jigging rod and have landed many Kings on it. Its a parabolic rod designed for tuna jigging and thus with the softer tip you can easily see the action of a Pro-troll. I have landed many Kings on this rod.

I am no salmon pro, but I may have caught more salmon on my 7' ML trevala than my 8-6 Ugly Stik salmon rod.  Just have to watch bumper-flasher-leader length a bit more, but its worked great

I have been using a 7'0" medium-heavy bass jigging rod for 4 years now and have not felt like it has put me at a big disadvantage.  You'll just have to shorten your leader a little bit, but I also have felt like that puts you at an advantage in certain situations.  For instance - a 2 or 2.5' leader with a low-drag spinner behind a pro-troll can make fish move when the traditional solutions aren't working.

Another advantage of a smaller rod is that it will put less torque on your boat while trolling.  More torque on your boat = more rudder to correct = more drag = more paddling/pedaling effort.  Of course that depends on the angle of your rod in the rod holder, but the point still stands.

One of my friends was suggesting that a longer, softer tipped traditional salmon rod would allow you to have a rotational larger arc of motion on a 360-flasher/pro-troll.  Does anyone have any data on that?  My brain tells me it's possible that's true, but also I am having trouble trying to justify that with physics.

I don't have any rod model suggestions to offer up, but I do think the idea warrants some additional consideration.

Heavy bass crankbait rod could be good.  Parabolic action, soft tip.  The Trevala rods are just so dang versatile though.  I can salmon fish, bottom fish, and sturgeon fish with the same 7' ML rod and linecounter reel.  Put a snap swivel on the end nad keep the weight slider on and its easy to switch on the water between species too.  They aren't cheap, but Fish field in Tigard runs sales on them pretty often that gets them under $100.    The 7' L may be a better choice if you using more for salmon.  Still probably good for bottom fish, but I stepped up to the ML to be able to handle sturgeon too. 

A couple more rods that are a bit cheaper:

UglyStik Tiger Elite casting 7' H - 14-40. 
UglyStik Tiger Casting 7' ML 12-30.

Or if you want real cheap the Daiwa FT boat rods 7' M 15-30, Fishermans runs them for 20 bucks very often. 

I use a cheapo Tillamook Sporting Goods house rod (Skylitz) that was $5 from some garage sale several years ago. I wouldn't buy one directly from TSG, I don't support them unless I am out of other options. But it has had the tip broken and probably sits around 7' I use the bigger skateboards in the bay sometimes and have taken that rod and no problem seeing the action. Out in the ocean I use a diver and one of the smaller pro trolls, it still rotates 360 but you cannot tell with the diver/smaller flasher. But I verify it spins before I send it down.

Smaller rods are easier to manage from a yak. Netting is easier, but you also need to use a shorter overall (weight source to lure/bait) leader. With the pro trolls you don't want much more than 4' total anyways so you're good there!

Pulled the trigger on the Trevala TCV 70L. Cant have too many rods, right?

Glad I found this thread. I am not a big salmon guy, and last year trying to land my first kayak ocean coho on a 10' salmon rod made me start rethinking my life choices. I'm glad to hear others are having success with the Trevalas for salmon. I might get a medium-light casting model and see how it feels with a good linecounter on it. That would be a really great setup for all kinds of things. Thanks!

I have a large okuma Cold Water on it and its totally mismatched, but its the reel I had.   The Coldwater low pro or the Lexa 300 would be pretty ideal and should give you enough capacity for anything I would think. 

I have a large okuma Cold Water on it and its totally mismatched, but its the reel I had.   The Coldwater low pro or the Lexa 300 would be pretty ideal and should give you enough capacity for anything I would think.

Thanks for the info. The Cold Water is what I have too. Hmmm...

I have a 303 I bought for Alaska where we were fishing deeper. It’s just too big/heavy for how light the trevala is. The 203 or 153 would be much better balanced

I have a large okuma Cold Water on it and its totally mismatched, but its the reel I had.   The Coldwater low pro or the Lexa 300 would be pretty ideal and should give you enough capacity for anything I would think.

Thanks for the info. The Cold Water is what I have too. Hmmm...

Haven't fished with it yet, but put my low profile Okuma CW on it and it is a pretty sweet feeling setup. Got me thinking about how to rig it up so that I can switch back and forth between a trolling setup with a slider and a jigging setup. I guess I could just leave the sliding setup and swap between the bumper/flasher/leader and the Lancer with shrimp flies rig?. One shorter, one piece rod sounds appealing.

That’s the route I took the other week at PC. Slider doesn’t get in the way of jogging. Just clip and go.

Now that I have a manageable length rod (but a one piece), I am looking at getting the Hobie horizontal rod holder.

Anyone have these. I am thinking it would be handy during a "yard sale" entry at PC. A 7' rod in any upright holder seems like breakage all the way