favorite spinning rods

what are your favorite spinning rods.  i have a bunch of st. croix rods, and while i like them, i think they may be overrated and overpriced.  i just like american made.  buddy will use nothing but berkley lighting rods for fishing tournaments.  what are your favorites?

believe it or not... i purchased a new baitcasting rod and spinning rod this summer from GM...their advantage series rods...and I love them...and only 30 buck each with a 2 or 3 yr no question warranty

Im a Ugly Stick guy, I have 9 spin and baitcasting in all. They range from 5'6 to my 9' salmon out fit. Not to mention there now defunct flyrods. You cant destroy em. I know alot of ya are gonna say St. Croix or loomis and so on but dollar for dollar you cant beat a "Stick". I also fished witha 9'6 Bass pro Micro lite Float and Fly spinning rod (MED/LITE action) for steelies this year. Great rod can't say anything bad about it except the balancing kit that screws in the butt is sold seperately.
 
TITE LINES & SHOOT STRAIT!

           My favorite are also near indestructable and are the old Shakespeare Wonderods> I think these are the early version of the Ugly Stick. I have over a dozen of them and have taken a few apart and redid them to balance properly. I have also did 2 Wonderod-fly rods and converted them to steelhead rods and they are great on the smaller erie stream like the mile ones and crooked creek. I have picked most these up @ flea markets over the years and never paid more than $10 each.
            My Favorite steely rod is a Cabela*s rod 11*6* noodle rod from 1993 and I swear it is a Loomis blank! The Loomis rods were exactly the same then with same guides and handle, only blank was a different color. One was green -Cabela*S --other Loomis was blue I have 2 extra  cabela*s blanks to make it I ever break my first rod.

My favorite "spinning rod" is any one of my 1 piece GM guides series pro selects IM8.  On sale for 49.99 you can't beat it.  I owned one for I don't know how many years and finally broke by running it into a tree on a cold morning.  No receipt, no owners card, NOTHING, they handed me a brand new rod and said "there you go".  I do have a St. Croix and I'll take my Guide series ANYDAY for sensitivity and comfort.

My favorite would have to be my little 5'-0" Pinnacle ultralight.  No, its not the fanciest, lightest, or prettiest rod ever made (especially now with the sun-baked cork, bent eyes, and disintegrated butt), but I got it from my parents for christmas years ago, and pretty much learned to fish on that rod.  I knew HOW, but I went from a "bait at the bottom of a lake" fisherman when I got that rod to a fisherman that had caught hundreds of fish of nearly every species we have in this area, via nearly every method commonly used.  That rod was the one in my hand when I learned to fish spinners & spoons, crankbaits, jigs, tubes, and even a fly or two behind a little shot.  I caught bluegill on it smaller than the lure I'd thrown, and bass on it that weighed more than double what the line was designed to handle. 

Now that I've had access to other rods, I can more easily notice the limitations of that rod, and I will say its getting a well deserved rest now that I've taken up a flyrod.  But that little rod still gives me more confidence in my catching ability than any other piece of equipment I own.

My favorite American made rod is my G Loomis 783 GLX. My favorite import is my megabass destroyer. I used to think that the $100 rods were great till I bought my first enthusiast rod and then I was hooked. The sensitivity of these rods and the light weigh of them makes them on great stick to fish with.

G. Loomis Bronzeback Series.....love 'em for smallies

my current favorite rod is the fenwick HMX series with the st croix premier and ben doer series a close second.  also have an old all star that's a great rod

Now you know you only sold it so you could spin up another Micro Guide Rod  Scott  LOL

The St. Croix Avid Series for me...The premiers/triumphs are nothing compared to the Avids, especially if you put a rod balance on the butt of it...my next favorite rod is my old(8year old) Browning Platinum...you can barely read the writing on it it's peeling/cracking so bad.but that rod is light as a feather and has caught more fish than any other rod i own...it's awesome...but the Croix avids definitely have my vote...Gloomis are good too..

UGLY STIK all the way. Every setup I own is an UGLY Stik Rod and Okuma reel. Won't fish with anything else.

Per the rather good reviews of the Gander Mtn. rods, I decided to purchase a Tournement Series combo.  Although most people commented on the Pro Select, I hope the upgrade might is even better.  Pretty good price, especially on sale. 
 
I have a Cabelas Pro Guide with a Okuma Alumina, that I really like, but cost me about as much as two Gander combos.  I'd recommend this combo, as it is very smooth and has landed some wipers in the 8+ lb class with no problems.  Great sensitivity when free lining live shad and twitching jerk baits and jigs.  Not the best for live bait in a rod holder though, as it is a bit stiff, which makes visual detection a bit harder.  I don't get as much use as I did a few years back, so can't give a really great review on longevity.  But did get a good "pre child" year of fishing in with this set up, which consisted of about 2-3 trips per week, from March-Nov.  Now I get maybe 2 per month.  I "needed" to replace an older fiberglass junk rod and broken reel, that was my trusty #2 rod.  It didn't survive the car ride to my last fishing trip.  Worked ok with electrical tape holding it together though!
 
They feel about identicle when holding them.  Give me a few years, and I'll comment on the Gander.