Baitcasting combo - Heavy - mostly lures

Its pretty hard to find one combo that will do everything you have listed. For larger freshwater fish a 7ft mh casting rod will work on wiper/ bass/ medium cats / pike. Gander Mountain makes some decent rods for not a ton of cash i also like fenwicks.

But if you want to seriously fish for musky it usually requires specialized tackle Such as a heavy duty casting reel with 50#and up braided line and a specialized musky rod. Real serious musky fisherman will have more than one musky rod a shorter stiffer rod for jerk baits and a longer rod 7 plus ft with a softer tip that is used to throw bucktails.

I know for stripers in the ocean anglers use a pretty long rod that can cast a weight a long distance.

A good reel for not too much money is the Abu C3 series or reels. They have a good carbon matrix  drag pretty durable gears and have a 6 pin centrifugal break system that use a series of break collars to control the reel while casting. The breaks are more of a pain to adjust on the abu's then other reels though i usually just set them at 2 and leave most of the time. The 6500 is larger than the 5500 and also has a clicker and higher line capacity but dont handle lighter weight as well.

A reel that i have never used but looks decent for a cheaper reel is the Daiwa millionaire I think its like 60 bucks but iv never used on so cant comment. You usually get what you pay for though a 60 dollar reel wont be a 200 dollar reel.

If you are looking for a strong lowpro reel the shimano curado 300 series are very good and can handle bigger fish, the D series were going for around 100 bucks at gander mt lately dont know if any are left the E series replaced it and is a good bit more cash.

Shimano's are very good reels but might be out of your price range. Maybe look at the Pfluger trion round reels i have heard some ok reviews on them but have never fished them.

Also todays baitcasters are easier to cast then older ones just takes some practice and an educated thumb.

Hope i helped you out some.

Javelin said it right if you skimp on a reel it will come back to bite you.  You can get a pretty good casting reel for around 100 just clean grease and oil it once a year and you shouldn't have any issues.  It's going to be tough to find one rod that would cover that range for all of those applications.  It is also hard to find a good two piece casting rod. What you might want to check out is a heavy flipping stick for bass and that should cover a lot of what you want.  They don't sell too many 2pc ones but they do have them that telescope down into the butt shortening it from 8ft to about 5ft.  St. Croix has several good options but its going to be more than what you want to spend.  Good luck to ya!

Cool.  This is pretty much what I had expected (needing multiple set ups).  I should have thought that, since it is the case with a spinning set up too...  I'll probably hold off, since I'll be looking at the heavier end, which is likely more expensive.  I'll keep my eyes peeled for a good deal on a reel, and just toss on a rod if I find something.

Thanks for the input.

I'd go with the Ugly-stix & Abu! Line & setting reel to individual lure weights, with practice, will eliminate most back-lash problems.