If you are looking to primarily fish with bait, I would look into a match fishing rod. It's a sectional rod, like the old bamboo rods, but made of modern materials, graphite and fiberglass. Match fishing is a European style that is catching on here in America. My hometown, Elkhart, IN, hosted a world championship tournament a year or two ago and it was really interesting. Essentially, you determine where the fish are at. Then you begin adding sections to your rod until the tip is directly over the area you want to fish. There is no reel, so you have to rig your terminal tackle to the end of the rod, making educated guesses as to where the fish are in the water column. The guy that owns/designs Thill bobbers fishes on this circuit and has designed most of his bobbers to work in this system. I watched some of these guys fish and it was really something. Some guys would hold their rods and add an extra section behind them to counter balance the weight of the fishing section. Others would put out a high-tech version of the old forked stick and use it as a fulcrum to move thir rods into position over the fish. I forgot to mention, as they add sections to these rods, some would get 24-30' long. This system obviously works much better if you are fishing slackwater, such as eddies and backwaters, but can, with enough weight and the right rigging technique, be used in moderate current without much difficulty.

I gotta' get, gonna' go play with my new muzzleloader, but if you are interested I'll try to post links to the appropriate websites a little later in the day.