Spencer,
Funny you should mention the use of a large spool short reel to use for casting light jigs.

This is the only sort of reel that I use when targeting these fish. Often there is a school lurking. If you move too close to them, they spook and swim away. So, I like to use a 7 1/2 or 8 foot steel head type rod with a float and a very light jig to make ultra long casts to get just past the school. Then, I will reel through the school, and either git a hit or a miss. If I get a miss, I can quickly reel back with the high retreive rate of these reels and cast again.
Excellent tools to do the job well.

Take care

Ok after reading the suggestion that others have posted here is my idea for building what you want to achieve.
this is about the tip and the sensitivity of it not the power of the rod so much you want a soft tip and enough back bone in the rod over all to lift the fish .this where the empirical data for the blank lure weight or line weight isn't useful.
I would look for a blank of 8-9 ft and then order it and go to the ice fishing blanks and order a Noodle Ice Rod Blank they are various lengths from 18 inches to 39 inches and then figure where to cut the tip of the long blank and insert the noodle tip in to the remaining part of the long blank epoxying it in place and wrapping where the 2 pieces meet like a ferule and order a titanium tip top and mini-ma running guides for that section and standard guides for the lower half configure up the type of grip and seat required and finish accordingly and you should have a 100% custom hand made bream rod that does exactly what you want it to do and tip action like you want done right you should end up with a complete rod of at least 9-10 ft or longer if you start with a longer lower blank.
Just my thoughts as after looking at the crappie and bream rods offered per MFG in the market place they are telescoping type and the guides if you would choose to use one of those for your blank the guides would be few because of the sliding of the sections in to each other.
yes I have done this to shorter blanks before using walleye blanks at 7 ft and 39 inch noodle ice blank ended up with an 8ft 6in rod over all

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

Matthew, WOW! I have been considering doing just that exact thing. My only hangup with it is not knowing how long I should attempt to make the noodle rod. Don't want to cause an odd or sharp bend where the 2 rods meet. Could probably figure it out with some playing. It may look a little funny unless i color both blanks to be the same color but probably be passable.

I dont think visual appeal is of top importance. I should have mentioned this "customer" is my uncle!

You hit the nail on the head as far as ratings not working here because the ask of the blank is very specific and almost has to be handled to know if it fits the niche.

It just so happens that I've built quite a few noodle rods that I custom sanded for ice fishing so I would be pretty comfortable with that.

Thank you for your suggestion. I feel a bit less crazy for considering that and may just give it a try.

Tucker

Matthew, to follow up on your 7 foot walleye rod and 39 inch nodle rod. Did you leave the noodle rod full length and just cut the 7 footer back till you got a good fit, or did you trim the butt end of the noodle at all so that you could leave more of the walleye rod?

I could see cutting more of the long rod back could reduce a stiff spot or strange bend, but would be more tip heavy with more if the fiberglass noodle rod out front. I also considered leaving more graphite blank and using just the last foot or 18 inches as the thin noodle for better balance and lighter tip weight.

Any tips for getting the epoxy in all the right places? I suppose cutting the long rod shorter rather than leaving it longer makes for a bit easier time getting the epoxy to stay in the joint area rather than getting rubbed off on its way down the butt end of the blank.

Any quick tips for making the transition look good?

Thanks again for the suggestion.

Tucker

you can e mail me as I don't have my mail hidden or if you want I can call you or you can call me we can just swap numbers through e mail or we can sort out the blank questions that way
as for gluing the tip section in I just loaded up the cut end and slid it back and forth to coat the walls of the main blank with epoxy and hung it tip down till it cured so that it wouldn't run down the inside of the main blank.
this blank might fit the bill for you as you could use a shorter version of the ice noodle for you build
[www.jannsnetcraft.com]
the walleye rods I used were 1/6 ths -5/8 ths at 7 ft they look kind of clumsy with the thin tip lol but did work well so that is why I suggested the steel head blank from Janns as it is at a reasonable price point and won't break the bank for you experimental first build and you would be able to use a shorter ice blank.
Happy Holidays to you and Yours

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.