Those 8'6" rods waterdog101 wrote about may be ideal. The rods WILL bend over with the divers engaged. The rods WILL stand up when released. The more distance they cover when released the better so the longer the rod the better. But I use 7' striper down rods now and catch fish with them. Those will work but you will probably miss some fish. Longer ones would probably work better. You may still miss fish. Ha!

The downrigger rods I tried did great once the divers were deployed. But dealing with the divers for storage, at rest on the boat when travelling and during the deploy process was a pain. The tips were too flimsy and the divers were jumping all over the place. I had to take the rods apart (two sections) just to move with them.

Having a longer rod but with a tad more back bone would be the best option, in my opinion.