Ya really cant go wrong with shimano. (if you have the budget for it).
I dont catch/have time to fish that much, so I got a cheaper shakespere reel. It aint nearly as nice as the shimano.
As for sticks... you need to look at the material composition more than anything else- most will have a label imbeeded into the side of the stick, which will tell a.
ugly stick is not a bad one acutally. THe ones I felt were all generally pretty stiff for the shorter ones (less than 6 ft). If your only using a 8lb line, I'd consider something with a little bit more feel.
I also kinda like spider wire. Been using it for the past two years, havent really looked back. Sometimes it is quite annoying though, as the spider wire has virtually no weight of its own, it tends to get tangly. However, The strength of the line is AMAZING.
I was hooking a large mouth once... and then was fighting with the fish- the fish seemed to have gotten itself lodged int he weeds ot something.. so I kept trying to dislodge it...
Wouldnt you know it, the freakin ROD snapped. My bad of course. But still, it was a 10-12lb rod, running 10lb line. The line just did not snap.
