Was that Shakespeare an UglyStick Tiger rod? They are cheap and actually perform quite well for such a relatively inexpensive rod. They have nice, fast tapers with a lot of backbone so you can flip baits or small jigs out and still get some good pull...

Turner's outdoorman sells "Californian" rods, both in the heavier e-glass sticks as well as the 12-20 # class graphite trigger sticks (which can actually be quite powerful) for much cheaper than the big names...They seem to perform well...

They also sell some other small name rods that seem like they might be built and tapered like many of the other west coasts rods but much cheaper with cheaper components like minimal wraps, cheaper guides, and eva handles...I forget the name...

St. Croix also makes great rods that are cheaper than the other big names with what I feel to be competitive performance...

If you can wait until the Fred Hall show you can go to the Turner's booth and find their whole line up on sale...I would do that, personally...

my $.02

-Mike Chung