Both 3 1/2 and 4 foot rods intrigue me. Like I said, I have fished with a 5 foot rod but not the real shorties.
My late Pa-in-Law and I used to fish the Rivers all over Lower Alabama and the Panhandle for bass and other fish.
The Guy in front would fish a fly rod and the guy in back used a short rod to fish the spots back under the bushes. The fly rod wuld often just get the fish's attention when the plug came down. It struck out of reflex. We caught a ton of fish during the years that we fished together.
I looked through my stash of built up rods and blanks and only came across some 5 footers. There were some candidates for cutting down, but can't be sure of what I would come up with. Experimentation may be in order. I did find a bright orange Snoopy pole that I dragged off the bottom at the old Three Mlle Bridge that WMart gave away during a kiddie fishing event that we put together. No; I didn't take it away from some kid!
Like I said before; very interesting. I may make one just for drill. I'm open for ideas/suggestions. Stay tuned. C2