Rod and reel Questions from a newby

[FSUfishin]

I'm a long time steelie fisher with the fly rods and even love to pick up the spin rod from time to time and put the hurt on em' (then release em of course). I am selling my old spey combo to get money for some new gear, waders & center-pin. I have borrowed friends on many occasion and have got the casting down. However, it has never been in the budget for the set up. Now, it's time to get my rig. I'm trying to keep it around $200.00 for the rod and reel. My friends at ferris used to buy a crappie/panfish looking rod and strip it the re-guide it. Those were some of the nicest rods + they were custom. I think this is the route I want to go... Personolized while saving money. As far as a reel, I have used ones w/o a clicker and ones with and I believe I have heard of them w/ drag systems now. I do like the ones with the clicker option but any other input would be great. I would like to keep the rod and reel at about $100 each. I have also heard of machine shops making their own custom c-pin reels. That would be awsome to support local business. Any advice would be awsome. Thanks.

[FishKilla419]

Honestly I can't see catching steelhead of any size on a crappie rod especially in moderate to heavy flows. If your going to spend the time and money on rod componets put them on a decent blank. My 2 cents. Maybe look at the okuma series of float rods. I have yet to see a pin for 100 bucks. I think the cheaper okumas still go for at least 129-139 or something like that. Pins that are hand made in machine shops usually go for 300-800. With the drag models being toward the higher end.:yikes: