Best Begining Baitcast Rod

Piggybacking off of the best baitcasting reel thread what would be a great inexpensive rod for a beginner? Taking my son fishing this Fall to get him hooked on a top water bite. I have been looking at the Abu Garcia Vengeance, the Fenwick Silverhawk, H2O Express Ethos. Any other suggestions?

Cheap? Allstar AST 6'9" MH Fast Action for $70

The rod should be matched to his size. I do not know how old your son is but if he is a young man a decent 5-6 ft rod might be good for him to use and less dangerous for you. I have found the UglySticks to be very good first rods. I know with a little guiding with my grand daughter that she and I had a lot of fun picking her a first rod and reel outfit.

He is 14 and about 5'6". Good point about scaling to his size.

6'6" should be fine

No need to spend a ton of cash to begin with. I personally started with Bass Pro Extreme combos and also Berkely lighting rods.

+2 on the 6'6" Berkley Lightning Rod. Also go to jet.com and use discount code TRIPLE15. All kinds of bargains there on several brands.

Daiwa AIRD rods. Your son will love em! 6.6mh and 6.6m rods available. Butt length is not very long like others...great for kayakers and those that prefer a shorter butt length...

A 6' - 6'6" medium action rod should suffice. You can pick the all stars up all day long at academy cheap. Plus you can probably pick up some rattle traps too

Falcon bucoo rods. They're about 100 bucks for the non micro guide version. They are priced well below what they're worth!

To this day, I still use a 6'6" lightning rod for spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, swimjigs, and shallow cranks. I've tried "trading up" but I ended up going back to the lightning rod. I can cast extremely accurately with that rod. My lure lands exactly where I want it to.

Price: $40
Value: priceless

The shorter butt length is a big deal for shorter people,(I'm 5'8) the butt length is one of the main factors I consider. Especially on a technique that requires a lot of rod manipulation during casting\retrieving, I.e.; top water rod or flipping\pitching rod.