Daiwa Aird X

Uh, it's a great rod for the money. Again, it's nothing crazy, but at the same time you get a lot of good qual. You get a really good quality made rod...

So yeah, that's it. Alright, so so far this rod is performed pretty good just like the spinning one. I Think it's known a really good job for the pric...

see that? the Iowa Air X rod and it is a good rod. It's a it's a tad bit lighter than the Dawah Laguna series rods.

I was browsing the academy sports website when I noticed they are having 20% off rods, reels, combos, and some other miscellaneous fishing gear. I picked up an Aird-X 7’3 Medium/Heavy rod for $40 and noticed they had a decent selection of other rods and reels on sale.

I found the Diawa Fuego CT for $48 on Amazon (new but shipped from Japan) and got the Daiwa AIRD-X 7'3" MHF for $55 with free shipping. Second pic is the whole arsenal. Technically, the red one is my daughter's but I use it after her attention span has been exceeded. Took the Daiwa to the lake today and I like it a lot.

Both of those will perform better than the components of the ugly Stik combo. If you can stretch the budget a bit more by not buying that baitcaster, then look at the Shimano Sienna or Daiwa Crossfire paired with a Berkley CherryWood or Lightning Rod, or Daiwa Aird-X. If you just want a combo, look at the Abu Garcia BlackMax spinning combo. All of these options will be lighter, more sensitive, have better backbone, and a better reel than the Ugly Stik combos.