Thanks for the input. I was at Sportsman's today and checking out the Lamiglas X11 series. They have a 8'6" Heavy rod rated for 12-25lb line that sounds about perfect. They're only 100 bucks so I was thinking of picking one up. I don't feel like dropping 300 bucks on a first trolling rod right now and have heard that spending more on a reel seems to be a better investment than breaking the bank on a rod... at least right now. Any experience with these rods?