I see this long 8.5 ft trolling rod and wonder if it us good for casting cranks from shore. Canadian tire guy suggested it to me but I wasn't sure hexwas experienced
A trolling rod's eyelets and spacing are not designed for casting and neither is the rod itself or how the blank is made, or how the handle is set up - the Canadian tire guy had no freaking clue what he was talking about.
You are better off getting a spinning reel and spinning rod for casting (or if you prefer, a casting rod and level wind bait caster reel). You can still troll with those if you needed to ..... but the reverse isn't true (at least not ideal).
I've been running 8.5', 9' and 10' TDR's for 35+ years. They are trolling rods plain & simple made for downrigging and pulling dipsy divers etc.. Yes you can cast with them but there is MUCH better options out there. They may be ok if your purpose is to throw heavily weighted bait rigs you are going to soak on bottom but if you are wanting to cast jigs, crankbaits etc accurately and repeatedly forget it. They don't even make good jigging rods with big tube baits etc. It's just not their intended purpose but they are about the best downrigger rod on the market if you want tough. You'd have to be some "special" to break one under normal heavy use.