Hey FWW! No one has mentioned rods built on Pac-Bay/Sabre blanks- They're U.S. made and pretty affordable. I built a really nice eel'lin rod on a P.P/S #IGSC1207 that I cropped to 9'6" and mounted a Penn 525 to. The graphite rod is very sensitive so you can really feel when your about to get a hit- the eels start to shiver. The only problem is that I have to teach the eels French because the rod casts so far..........
Anyway I still use a Lami SSB 1362 a lot for spinning in the suds...It really rockets them out there and the blank weighs 8.75 ozs.-not an awful lot. Go to a custom shop- they'll be happy to let you try different rods out.....Work Stinks- FISH!