I agree, if you are going to fish with dowriggers use a glass rod. If you are dragging around 2-4oz with just cutplug, you can get away with a med. action steelhead (graphite) rod (especially for silvers, lots of fun! cool ).

I think the glass rods are more forgiving, my ex-fishing partner snapped his Lamiglass trying to free it from the downrigger, tip slid down to the dodger, however we still got the fish!

Kev