In my opinion there are casting poles and fishing rods. I’ve owned many of the top brands and models and although whilst competition fishing I used Sage XPs and Bloke XL fairly fast actioned rods, I felt that I was losing too many fish by ripping hooks out and converted to rods with a more through action, more forgiving on soft mouthed fish. I now use a Winston biit in 9’ 4wt as my main dry fly rod, I’ve also had Sage SP and SL which are also very nice in the action. I also like Fulling Mill Gold for the heavier line weights. The fastest action rod that I know have is a Loop S1 in 9’ 5wt for heavier dry fly and small still waters, I also use it for sea trout with no problems unless trying to chuck a big snake or tube. I buy all my rods second hand for under £300 as I can’t justify the cost of a new one.