I have one of these and love it. You’ll miss your price range though. I also have a 6’6″ Triumph in the lightest weight and it too is a super rod for panfish. For a long time I was a Berkley rod fan, but they went to China and that’s when the quality went south with them.
St.croix is top of the line but as stated about 2x your budget.
If I recall correctly there were more than a few very good anglers here including Tom who like those triumphs in the UL/l category in posts of years past.
I use Shakespeare UL Micro Graphite spinning rods for trout. They are very affordable at Walmart. Assuming there is a Walmart not too far from you, it would be easy to put your hands on one.
i did take a glance at the shakespheares the only ones local to me the guides were really off on i get its a cheaper rod but it was like miles off from being inline with reel seat found the same with a pflueger monarch combo
I actually have 2 of the St. Croix Triumph rods, both the same. Model # is
“TRS66LF”. Slightly less expensive than the Panfish model. These are rated for 4-8 pound lines and 1/16 to 5/16 ounce lures. While I love these rods for crappie fishing, they shine about as bright as any rod when it comes to light jigging for walleye sauger. I like them for tossing 3/16 and 1/4 jigs with 4″ ringworm sized baits and smaller.
I’ll note here that I do not use any sort of braid or high tech fiber lines on these. These are used mostly for casting and often with a slip float so every one of them has been spooled with 4 pound XL clear which will still let me vertical jig with a great degree of sensitivity. One of the Triumphs was replaced after a wind loop of braid was wound around the tip top unknown to me when I cast a 1/4 ounce jig. The light tip was found right down at the jig head on the line. So, no more braids on any of the three rods.
That Panfish model put a 13 pound carp on shore and both of the Triumphs have landed carp and buffalo and catfish easily into the 20 pound range without and problem at all. Personally I’d save my sheckles until I had enough saved to get either of these rods. The Triumphs have a bit more utility to them but that Panfish model is one sweet rod for sunfish and crappies.
The extra $40 is worth it for the St. Croix Triumph. Great rods and outstanding customer service if you do something dumb like lay it down in the boat when a youngster is fishing with you (the voice of experience).
I forgot to add to the Triumph comments that I fish a ton of 1/32 jigs and occasionally a 1/64 ounce jig and they cast just fine even though the rods are rated at 1/16 as smallest.
Check out a CRG Cabelas fly rod 6ft to 7.5, 4,5,6, weight, 3 pieces.Put a spinning or fly reel on it, for stream trout a break down rod is real nice. a 4 weight would be a hoot. I just looked them up, you would have to wiggle them yourself. DK.
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