My two spinning rods are an Ugly Stik and a Fenwick Walleye Class.
For subtle species like walleye that take light, nibble and tap the advantages of the Fenwick are hard to exaggerate it's just so much better night and day.
One thing I'd recommend for anyone "stiking" with their cheap rods is to at least put some good braid on your reel. On an Ugly Stik with mono you will miss many fish not even knowing they came and went with your bait.
For gregarious species like pike who like to come in and smash your terminal tackle, I don't find the advantages of the better rod quite as pronounced, but like others mentioned you can really feel them change direction, dive, thrash much more clearly with a better rod.
IMO it's worth going up into that $100-200 class of rod at the very least. I haven't had the privilege of using top tier high-end rods so I can't comment on them.
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