I too concur with Dan and Craig. The difference in my success when I
stepped up to a Loomis rod and Power Pro was astounding because I suddenly
learned to feel everything the bait was going through. Since then I now use
mono mostly but I have a sense for the bait that I never had. Want to
improve finesse fishing, go with a good rod and no stretch line for a while.
An excellent low cost rod IMO is the Rapala Long Cast HM-35 series. They
run about $40 a piece and I find them to be very light and comfortable with
a nice taper and lots of sensitivity and backbone at the same time. For me
the rod is more important than the reel so far, but I can tell that some of
my reels, although they performed well out of the box, are starting to
degrade in just a few years. I hope I will get better mileage out of higher
quality reels as I upgrade my tackle.
Nice posts, this was a good thread.

Rich P