To the person who said you can't catch big fish on small gear- this summer on one trip I caught 6 channel cats between 18" and 24", with my little 4'8" ultralight Ugly Stik and 4# mono on it. I lost two- one because I horsed it too much, and the second because my line got caught in a tree downed at the water's edge. I fish side by side with my dad who uses a 7'+ Ugly Stik that's older than me, and I catch fish just the same as he does. I really think it's a lot more fun with the smaller rod- that 24" channel cat took me 30 minutes to get in, and that was while it was pulling our canoe all over the river. It was probably the most exciting (fish)catch of my life, and not even the biggest I've caught.
I've caught bowfin anywhere from 24-30" on that same rod, and several pike close to 30". Those were heavier test line, though. Sure, it's EASIER to catch them on a bigger rod, but you'd be surprised at what you can do with enough patience to play with a fish for a while, and it's really exciting to know you're so to losing a nice fish. Half the time I feel like the guys on fishing shows who are struggling to bring in marlins and such, rods bent in half, praying it doesn't pull any harder.
My advice is stick with the Ugly Stik because it's cheap and a really decent rod- then you can buy a few setups and decide what suits whatever style of fishing you're doing that day. A lot of times I fish with two rods. One that sits on the bottom for cats, and one with a lure for bass. I also have a rod for stream fishing (smallest ultralight that breaks in two so I can carry it back in the woods easier and cast into little pools), a couple medium weight rods for big cats at night, and a 6' medium light rod for when I don't know what I'll get into. Most of these rods are between 4 and 8 years old, and they get a LOT of use, so the maybe $200 I've spent on them (with reels included) was well worth it for me, even if every single one of them broke tomorrow and I had to buy new ones. It certainly left a poor college student more money to spend on bait and gas so I could get out fishing!
If you want something different, Shimano makes a fairly comparable product in price, although the action has always seemed a little heavy to me on Shimano rods.
