You may want to look at Tackle town in Rockport or Roy's in Corpus for a used saltwater bait casting reel. A curado, lews speed spool, or shimano chronarch would all be good choices. That 5500c is heavy as hell when casting it all day. It's great for soaking bait with maybe 10 casts an hour. But wading with artificials is just as technical in saltwater as bass fishing, and you will thank yourself for having something you can palm for comfort. I fish Chronarch 150HGs presently, and fished chronarch MGs and curados before that. For the price, concept 13 makes a decent reel too, but I am mainly a shimano guy as i am not a fan of the guts in concept reels. I usually throw 30lb 8 strand braid for trout and reds, flounder, etc. Lots of wading opportunities in that area. Even more water opens up if you can buy a used kayak somewhere.
That waterloo salinity or phantom is where I would look with a sub $200 budget. You may also want to look atthe classifieds on 2coolfishing.com for used higher end waterloo and sarge and laguna rods. I think TFO also makes some decent production rods.
I like a 6'9" rod in a fast action for trout and reds unless I am throwing big topwaters, and then I favor a rod with a bit more backbone and less fast action. Usually throwing paddle tails and super spook Jr's, cookies, etc, the lighter action is fine.
Class of '93 - proud Dad of a '22 grad and a '26 student!