Years ago I was fishing South Junction on the Deschutes. It was October to all the spiders were headed for cover. In the corners of the bathrooms the black widows were strung up in their webs...like 5-6 per sani-can. Never took a dump before daylight.
Though I understand and share the frustrations, without these NGO's Pebble Mine would be moving forward and the steelhead situation would be more dire. Without the threat of lawsuits, every last tree would be cut down and every fish caught or harvested. Just ask the passenger pigeons. NGO's...
The solution is buy what you can afford or is in your established price range and meet your definition of a nice casting rod. It's nice to have all the options from high end rods made in the US to cheaper rods made overseas. Manufacturers will charge what people are willing to pay, and...