Tbh like beanz said 3.5 is getting very strong and you will have to know how to play the fish correctly on the rods otherwise you will loose a lot of fish due to hookpulls as the rods wont absorb them, theres a good chance you wont be able to compress the blank of the stronger rod therefore loosing out on distance, if I was you I would spend the money on a decent bait for your time out there