I fish the Mattlures Bluegill, Babybass, and 6" Trout on a Okuma MH 7'11" guide select swimbait rod with 20lb P-Line. I find this setup excellent for these smaller baits, I can toss them a mile, plus I can feel every tick as I slow roll them along the bottom. Don't think that you wont catch any big fish on these small baits, I have caught my PB on the 6" trout, a nice 12.4lb fish. I have not fished the Shellcracker bait so I cannot comment on it. But by the looks of it I would probably throw that bait using my XH swimbait rod with 25lb test just because it looks like a bigger and heavier bait. As far as your setup, you may get a little more distance on your casts using a longer rod with a little softer action, but overall it should work fine, specially if your only going to be flipping the gills to bedding fish.