yhetti, on your first question fiber glass is a good choice for many applications because of its progressive action and the fact that it is nearly indistructable. fiber glass will work well for crank baits as well, due to its "soft" feel allowing you to see your lures working as well as being able to reel in a dead horse.
i would say that the certified pro or G1000 series will be great for tubes and plastics on the bottom. and if cost is an issue you can try the off shore made rods. or even build your own with the right blank. i hope this helps.

Thank you for your info. I am thinking a 7' med heavy glass rod and a 7 1/2 med g1000 should be good choices for most of the types of fishing that I do. If you think of anything else let me know.

yhetti,

Longer rods (better if Med/Heavy) = farther cast, used most with a fast action reel like the Revo
Lures= spinners, buzz baits, heavy lures ( football/finess jigs), Drop shotting, etc

Shorter rods (better if Med) = accuracy, used more with normal/slow action reels
Lures= Senkos, flukes, smaller jigs, jerk baits, crank baits, light swim baits, etc.

And a fact about fiberglass: yes its durable but lacks sensitivity, its heavy, and after 2-3hrs of casting you will start to feel it in the rist.

If you are looking for a more sensitive rod, try Carrot Stix, Lamiglas doesn't have what you need, to be honest. If he insists you buy a fiber glass, mine as well buy Shakespear UGLY Stick.

G-Loomis, St. Croix; yes these are premium rods but its more name brand than performance.

I'm a custom rod maker, I'm also a fisherman, All my rods are made to fit the fisherman. I used to make G-Loomis Custom Rods, but quit because I didn't believe in their products.

If you decide to buy a Carrot Stix, their rod guides are cheap.

Carrot stix rods are really a graphite blank with some biofibers installed on the outside and than they have to be painted to make them look different than any other graphite blank. Their leading bass angler quit them when he found out his rods were different from the factory rods, and they wouldn't upgrade the product to what the public deserved. The reel seat, grips, etc. are available to everyone.
The Certified Pro rods from Lamiglas are mostly built on the IM 700 graphite with virtually identical to the IMX graphite used by Loomis. Fantastic series of rods. I've used the blanks for many years and haven't found any problems finding a nice sensitive rod for just about anything in the sereis.

Thus, G-Loomis is more name brand than performance. Like you said, Lamiglas rods are made of the same graphite composition. *Thanks for telling the truth* So isn't Lamiglas just buying G-Loomis blanks pretty much and just repainting them? hahaha, I think you should stop digging a hole. With this said I'll be sure to let every Lamiglas rod owner I know they've been screwed.

Guess you haven't been around G Loomis IMX or Lamiglas IM700 much to know their history and understand the different qualities of graphite available in the same modulus which causes a dramatic difference in a finished product's true modulus when formed into a rod blank. They both started using the 47 mil graphite a long time ago, but about the same time frame. The blanks are made in different factories a couple miles apart as the roads go, but maybe 1/2 mile as the crow flies, on opposite sides of the I-5 freeway.
There are differences in the feel and actions of the rods, as each designer has their own ideas as to the best characteristics necessary to get the job done. That said, as I said before, there are a huge amount of rod blanks built by Lamiglas that are as nice and technique specific as any one else's. They build OEM blanks on their own or different mandrels for many other rod shops and blank supplies as do other blank manufacturers.
Lamiglas has been making blanks and rods just about as long as I've been fishing, well over 40 years. No one stays in the business that long if they don't make an excellent, and up to date product. A huge amount of custom rod builders use their products, I'm willing to bet many more than use G Loomis and many other manufacturers nationally and world wide.

You got me there. True that I haven't been around long enough, but still, what you say does strike me as a surprise. I do not work at Lamiglas, so I wouldn't know the history, but thanks to you now I do. I'm sure the peons don't know as much as you do. So how come you aren't part of the rod engineering team? why not start your own company? or do you get paid that much that you just don't care? Do you love what you do? same thing different day, answering postings online, never ending. You seem more like a sales person. Are you the rain man? Would your salary be in jeopardy by answering truthfully? I'm sure they haven't taken your rights away yet. I could be wrong.

zshawnz, explain to me how purchasing a Lamiglas rod for cheaper than a comparable G Loomis IMX is being screwed over?