how do you decide on a rod length?

6.5' or 7.0'???

gah..I had an easier time deciding on a college major!

Haha, the age-old question.  Was actually just browsing some old posts on this myself.  What are you using this rod for?

Rockfish.  Halibut.

I’ll prob get the seven footer. 

Long enough to clear the kayak tip so you can swing the rod from 1 side to the other.

Rockfish.  Halibut.

I’ll prob get the seven footer. 

Haha, good stuff.  7' is usually my go to length for most situations.  There are a lot of differing opinions here about the different aspects of the rod/reel combo.  Length, power, action, grip/handle, etc.  Then reel style, size, line capacity, drag, etc.  It's almost too much, haha.

My favorite lingcod rod right now is an 8' ML Ugly Stik Tiger with a Penn Baymaster reel.  Definitely not for everyone, but I like the old school feel, and the drag on the old Penn is buttery smooth.  Keep it simple, right?  I pretty much only use this setup for live bait drifting and trolling with ~10oz weight or less, and it works phenomenally for that purpose. 

Newer reels are nice too, and plenty of people will endorse a Daiwa Lexa or Avet SXJ for inshore fishing.  Rods like Phenix Abyss and Shimano Trevala get mentioned a lot too.  That said, I'm clumsy and can't imagine losing a $400+ combo to Davy Jones, haha. 

I'd say focus on what technique you do most, and optimize for that. 

Long enough to clear the kayak tip so you can swing the rod from 1 side to the other.

Agree best starting point

Just to muddy the water and give you more food for thought.

Take into account the drip length and style as it pertains to total rod length. I’ve attached a picture of (from left to right) 6-3 trevala, 6-6 trevala, 7-0 harrier x and 8-0 okuma pch.

Actual rod length in inches without the grip is 53.5, 52.5, 56.5, and 63.5. So the grip size may change how much rod is available.

^^^.nobody said anything about math!!

hahah....great info.  eye opening. 

Long enough to get around the bow with a nice fish.
Long enough to net your fish with a troll or drift fishing rig on.

Long enough to get around the bow with a nice fish.
Long enough to net your fish with a troll or drift fishing rig on.

This is the criteria I used as passed down from the founding members

Long enough to clear the kayak tip so you can swing the rod from 1 side to the other.

I agree. This is what I've based my rod length on.