I mostly use a 5" or 5' - 6" Ultra Light or Lite Berkley Lighting Rod with a Shimano Syncopate 1000FG using 6 pound test line.

i fish 7 or 8 ft ultra lights even on small streams
like WF said, its alot more accurate and can give you presentations others can't do with very short rods
mine are all 2 or 3 piece so getting them there isn't an issue

i made a real nice 8ft our of a 3 wt fly blank last year, fishes great :)

ultra light rods are the way to go...easier to transport and you get a good fight out of them but still can get the fish in.  If you're fishing somewhere that has them steelhead in it then you might want to use the noodle rod

My son uses a 6'6" Fenwick HMG medium action for trout...perch too...the rod is caked with emerald shiner scales...lol

5'6" UL with 4 or 6lb Vanish

Depends where im at. If its super tight I end up using an ul, average I use a 6' light an fairly open I use my noodle rod an high stick em

I have 2PC 7'6" fast ul that I think is a very good all around trout rod. With 3 lb braid it high sticks like a10' noodle rod and it casts a joes fly a mile with no weight. It does not however excel in throwing heavier spinners, like a larger vibrax, or a medium to large float rig. A noodle rod, or a more modern faster action ml float rod is better for that stuff. I don't fish much real real tight water though, nothing I can jump across anyway.

FishinGuy

I have 2PC 7'6" fast ul that I think is a very good all around trout rod. With 3 lb braid it high sticks like a10' noodle rod and it casts a joes fly a mile with no weight. It does not however excel in throwing heavier spinners, like a larger vibrax, or a medium to large float rig. A noodle rod, or a more modern faster action ml float rod is better for that stuff. I don't fish much real real tight water though, nothing I can jump across anyway.

 
This is probably the route I'd go if i were in the market today, especially considering I already have the MLXF for heavier offerings.  The only thing I'd even consider changing is going from a 2pc blank to a 1pc if I could find one, and dropping to 7'0".  I know this configuration would fit in my car, and I prefer a 1pc to a 2pc in any situation other than travelling.

I like the 2 PC for hiking through woods. Makes a big difference.

I'm on the team w/ the short rods. I use an old Shakespeare 5' spinning combo w/ 4 Lb mono. Love it for trout streams, easy to get it in & out of the deep brush to get to the stream & I've caught so many trout on it over the years, it just has alot of fond memories.  Old reliable....