Hey Jake. Mark W. gave you some good advice, it's hard to beat the old Curado's or the new ones. As far as rods consider this, technique specific. Here's an example of what I mean. When fishing a jig or soft plastics you will want a very sensitive rod, usually a more expensive rod. This tecnique requires and great deal of feel. I recommend Kistler, Loomis, Falcon and H&H in that order. For topwaters sensitivity is not as necessary, I use an old 6ft BPS tourney special for which I paid $29. The old Zell Rowland Allstars are good topwater rods and are good for many purposes, jerkbaits, small spinners, buzzbaits, etc. For spinnerbaits think technique. Are you fishing the river and creeks? Then a short spinnerbait rod to make short accurate roll casts might be called for. But if you are fishing big spinnerbaits on the drops then a 7 to71/2 ft rod with a lot of backbone would be better. For crankbaits I would suggest a composite rod, they are cheaper and forgiving for crankbaits, the Mark Davis cranker by Falcon is a good one for small and big cranks. Then there is the ball and chain, drop shot etc. Another suggestion I might make is for you to visit the swap meets in Jan and Feb. where if you are careful you can find some "reel" deals.