I LIke St Croix rods. Their Triumph fiberglass rods for crankbaits are awesome. Another great rod is the Tourney Special from BPS. In fact, I've foundany of the BPS brand rods to be excellent buys for the money you spend. I have an Extreme XPS spinning rod and love it for working large plastics and spinners. I think my nextcasting rod will probably be a 7' MH Bionic Blade XPS. I like longer rods. They absorb more pressure from the fish and protect my line so I can use lighter line weights for better presentations. At $80 it's a great investment.