You might want to look at a Light rod instead of UL.
I have a 6"6" H-I Star, just a random ebay snag years ago, that is the nicest spinning rod I've matched with green 716.
Harnell made 656R, 657R, and 658R in 6', 6-1/2', and 7'.
Harnell even made long UL saltwater spinning rods to match freshwater reels, 628, 644, and 626, 8' to 9'

I'm sure others can chime in with Fenwick recommendations.

Thanks for the suggestions guys... I will look into them and check out the threads you've linked.

Daniel

Good suggestion. Never built a rod but first time for everything. Thanks

1/4 oz is 110 grains - exactly splits a 3- and 4-wt fly line.

If you want to throw from sub-gram lures up to to 1/4 oz, a 7' to 8" 3- or 4-wt is perfect.

Here, a 7'9" Japanese UL rockfish rod. (rockfish isn't a species, but denotes casting from shore for light game).
This rod will cast the 1/4 oz and is the equivalent of a 4-wt fly rod.
This rod has landed snook, and note is rated to protect 2-1/2-lb test.


If you want to find one of these ready to go, check ebay for NS Black Hole UL Rockfish and also Major Craft.

As far as distance and rod length, every 20% increase in rod length gives you the capability to double cast distance.
No reason you can't use a 9' graphite rod to get that max distance. If you want the lure weight range to cast below 1/32-oz, make it a 9' 3-wt.

We put these to hard work every winter, both night-light dock fishing in the Arroyo barge channel, and inshore tide passes.
They're the best tool for imitating winter glass minnows.
In Arroyo, we frequently catch doubles, mixes of seatrout, ladyfish, redfish and snook - we use a big, long net to get them up to the dock.
We'll be fishing the December new moon.

The Takamiya Loco Move above is 13 years old now, and I bought a pair, 7'6" XUL and 7'9" UL for me and my daughter just for dock and pier fishing under the lights - mostly nursery seatrout, 40 in an hour on Fulton Beach Pier after dinner at Cap'n Benny's. But even then, I knew they had the backbone if the schoolies swept through.
This was back when the only way to shop Japan was using a broker, noppin.com.
I tried one in August canals, sight-fishing big specs over the submerged green canal lights - landed 22" and 23", and never worried again about big fish on them.
At Arroyo, I keep four of them rigged in a rod rack, because lure change-up is really important to keep the schoolies feeding in competition.
From over 200 speckled trout filleted there over a few years in legal bag limits, have only filleted two nursery females - every other fish was a schoolie male.



the farthest-casting I own is this high-grade Yamaga Blanks TZ Nano - but the NS Black Hole rod just above is the one I'm willing to take out on a kayak.