A few years ago I was in need of a secondary spinning outfit for fly in trip on a budget, I bought a Rapala 6.6ft Tourny Series rod and a Quantum Icon spinning reel. Long in short I bought the same combo for my wife as an upgrade from her Quantum SS2/Berkley Cherrywood combo. I now own 7ft rapala tourney rod with a Quantum Catalyst PTi & Energy PTi spinning reels that I use most of the time as my spinning outfit for all lake fish(Trout, walleye, pike, etc). What is more impressive these combos are used in lieu of shimano reels and variety of rods that cost much more!! The quantums are smooth, no wobble, nice balance and use a great drag system(ceramic). The Rapala tourny series rods have excellent tip feel, nice cork handle and a very positive backbone, when I used the first one I thought nice walleye rod but how will it perform on big pike or scrappy lakers... I guess you can tell what happened(that trip I landed 3 pike on the combo that were 45+", it performed wonderfully and I immediately bought 2 more upon my return home!)
Fly fishing combos aren't my speciality, I use mine mostly for Pike fishing. I personally believe don't buy combos and pay more for the rod than the reel. When I first started my rods was 100 bucks and reel was worth 20-30 bucks, then upgraded the reel later once I found what I wanted and needed. I'd probably suggest a 4-6 wt for trout dependant on size, 9 ft is a good size to handle.
I would suggest getting your hands on as many even the ones out of your immediate price range, jujst to see what you like, etc. Window shooping doesn't cost anything
