I recieved a 10.5 Shakespear Quantum from my stepson for a birthday present last year. The rod has really surprised me with its ability to hang in there with some bigger fish. Hey, for 45 bucks can you go wrong? Put it this way, I started seriously jiggin this winter and tripled my fish hooking (lets see...0x3 is???) ability. Seriously I like the rod and matched it up with a Stradic F-4 (or 4) whatever the number is. For steelies, I'd go the size smaller to balance it out on the light rods. I went with the 8lb. Berkely XL for the limp line also. After I got used to using a spinning reel instead of my fly reels or casting reel, the system worked mint. It just took a few days to convince myself that a spinning reel was kosher.
I'm so taken with the jig fishing, I had a 12.5 ft. 9wt. two-handed fly rod built and am going to run jigs off of it under a small cork bobber. Have fun!!