I went through the same thing this spring with my 7 year old son. I got him a rod from Elk River Custom Rods in Phillips WI. The rod he got is a 6'5" and light as all heck. It will handle 3/4 to 3 once baits which for a kid is more than enough. Unless your son is like mine and loves the look of the Pounders. He will hold off on that part for a while. It has the longer butt section and smaller fore grip like Ty is talking about. I put on a Garcia low pro reel on it with 5.4 to 1 gears that was round $100.00. I really wanted to get the Revo Winch that they make for the bass guys, smaller then the 50's and would be a great set up if money wasn't a issue with it.

My decision came from lots of looking around and finding something that he would like also something that I would use. Now I am waiting for him to catch a fish with it so I can use it myself from time to time.