Corlay, I think you nailed it.
I like to cast on small creeks so a short rod is often what I take.
Sometimes I wonder why I don't just dap, but, hey, I do what I like.

I agree with this!

Short water or big water, my experience has been I catch fish usually within 30ft regardless of throwing line past or within 30 ft. I fish a 6'9" rod that can easily throw a line 30 ft. My experience aligns with Andy's remark about taking time to allow a short rod to do its thing. It is a true joy that may not be experienced by the type A personality.

An argument could be made that a long rod is better for mending line. Is a spey rod then an even better rod for line mending?

An argument could be made that a long rod is better for nymphing or dapping. Luckily, I am fortunate to fish where a long branch from a tree and some mono line has allowed me to enjoy that type of fishing for a fraction of the investment for a nymphing or tenkara rod.

I used to caddy a long, long time ago and a consistent observation was golfers really loved to talk about having the latest club but producing only a marginal improvement to their score. I observed that the fantastic golfers used the same old clubs they had for a considerable long time; They learned to understand the club and worked with how the club hit the ball. The mediocre players with the high tech clubs continued with their bad form and swing since their clubs were designed to counter act their slice/draw.

You don't want to miss that fish of a life time because of not reaching that fish or poor line mend or rod not having with enough backbone or not enough backing or not enough reel drag or not throwing a tight loop or not getting the fly to the spot fast enough or ....

Marketing is great regardless of sport.

I'm with Bulldog in favoring the FF535 over the 605. It's why I got rid of my 605 and bought a back-up 535. It roll casts so much better than the 6 footer.

Another short rod I like is the Phillipson Master 6 and a half footer. It does an admirably good job at being an all-around fishing tool for such a short rod.

Fished a Scott 552 this year. It casts very well although it's at least a 3wt and just fine with a 5wt within its fishing range - which is not a bad thing. Haven't used it much as my personal preference is for longer rods. I can't really see many instances in which I'd want something shorter than 7' and I'll often carry a 7'9" into very tight places. I'm not accustomed to fishing such a short rod and I found myself missing strikes with it but I suppose I could learn to fish with it and even enjoy it in the right circumstances. For sure using a very short rod is a bit of a challenge, especially on difficult fish but it's not an impossible one.

My first glass rod was a Hardy The Aln 5ft 2wt but I've only fished it once because the week after I bought a Hardy The Test which I've been using more just in the space of the last 4 weeks. I've been using 6ft 3wt carbon fibre for the last 5 years, didn't know anything under 7ft was seen as too short until reading this. I'm not fishing a reservoir so I don't care.