Starting to fish panfish, lol. Good starting poles and reels for catching artificial hardbaits? I'm not looking to spend lots of money, either. 

 

Ps;. can I just get a pen fishing rod? will that cast well? 

 

Tight lines!

Ugly sticks cannot be beat for treble hook baits on the cheap.  There moderate action works well and keeps them pinned nice.  I hate them for the same reason for fishing plastics.  They are sold as an all around rod and that frustrates a lot of people trying to fish single hook texas rigged plastics.

Wal-Mart has a variety of cost conscious candidates. 

 

The have some GREAT aluminum cane poles too!

Walmart has the Shakespeare micro lite combo for like 25 bucks. Awesome little bluegill rod and reel

My brother recently bought the Daiwa Presso 5'6" ultralight rod. It's perfect, and although slightly pricy is much nicer than any 20$ Walmart special. If you buy this rod you won't regret it. He's got it paired with a pflueger president 6920. Well balanced ultralight combo, he's been slaying big sunfish on it.

I use an ultra light ugly stik combo. Not the greatest setup, but it is fun catching a big feisty bluegill on a little tiny rod!

I got my Abu Cardinal spinning reel, and Berkley lightning rod at Wal-Mart.

I'd honestly would get a cheap 4 or 5 wt flyrod and a few dry flies and have at it. Lot's of fun!