I know everyone is into the Bonehead rods right now, and I'm sure they are worth the $100 bucks. I would like to encourage people to look at the ProAngler rods. They are half the price of the Bonehead rods and they are very good. I've used an 8' and a 10' for some time now and I find them to work extremely well for me. At Keystone, I hung the tip of my 8 footer in a tree and bent it 180 before I noticed. It finally snapped. When I got home I sent an email and had a replacement tip in two days. Cost was $17 with free shipping. It felt like a new rod. In that price range I don't think you can go wrong. Check out their video of swinging a big Crappie with the 8 footer (will your rod do this? on their site.)
http://www.proanglertackle.com/CrappieRods.htm