Been fishing lake erie for perch for over 60 years and havent given to much thought about rod choice until recent years. The fish seemed to bite more aggresively in my younger days so most any rod worked well. Then as the bite became more delicate, I started using specific rods to enhance the feel of the lite bite. A few years back I switched to a light action 6' rod which seeme to be very sensative to the delicate bite. Recently I found I was missing alot of these light taps and thought I might try a shorter rod with a more sensative tip. Moved to a 5' extra lite/ ultralite rod and found I was feeling many more of the exceptionally light taps these perch are using. My catch ratio has increased greatly since making this switch. What are the rest of you avid perch fishing folks using ??? Just wanted to throw this out there in hopes of helping a fellow fisherman !!