I am teaching my son how to bass fish with poppers and buzzbaits and sometimes wacky or texas rig worms. Dont wanna spend a lot to start him off with. Have an extra Mitchell 308 spinning reel, just need a rod for him. Looking at the Ugly stik GX2 or Berkley Lightning Shock. I learned on an ugly stik long ago. Any suggestions would be great. Have about $60 to spend on a rod (need to buy more lures and a box for him)

Go with the Shock. I taught my son one technique at a time. He would learn a new technique when he understood and was confident. 

Look at the Ethos rods if you're near an Academy Sports. They're great rods and go on sale for $40 and even less pretty often. I have several, they're great for the money. 

I have and ugly stick gx2 and if you are looking for a combo around $50 bucks its will do fine. If you are just looking for a rod I would recommend the No. *** Hellbent. It is $59.99. I have the  baitcast version and I love it. I would highly recommend it assuming that the spinning version is of the same quality as the bait cast.

I vote for lightning or uglystick. These type of rods are part of the learning experience. I learned on a uglystick. 

go with the ugly stik gx2 or the Lite Pro, those berkleys are prone to breaking. I've caught a lot of bass on my Ugly Stik Lite Pro 5'6 Light rod, up to 4.5lbs being the biggest, great for throwing weightless soft plastics too

The shock has good backbone and a soft tip .It works well setting a single hook and trebles.

On 7/10/2016 at 2:10 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

Look at the Ethos rods if you're near an Academy Sports. They're great rods and go on sale for $40 and even less pretty often. I have several, they're great for the money. 

^^^ This 

Yeah I've had uglysticks and the Berkeley's and they caught fish.  But why start at the bottom when you can up your game a little bit. Id consider it a waste to get a lesser rod just because. 

The Ethos seem to be a step up so that's where is would suggest. 

I agree with the Ethos.  Those are great rods for the price.