Spend as much as you can INHO. Better to wait a bit longer and buy quality than to buy cheap then wish you got something nicer later on. It can be hard to take the plunge and spend a fair bit of coin on gear (for some of us anyway) but you realy will enjoy the fishing more using the nicer tackle. As you progress in skill you can appreciate the advantages of what quality offers.The jump in quqlity from bottom of the range to somethimg in the middle is massive and in some cases a meer 50$ on a rod can meen a fair upgrade in components and/or blank quality.For mine its worth every cent ;)just my
