Wow, what a great response in the first 24 hours! This place is great! I appreciate all of the responses so far. It sounds like my initial thought that I can't go wrong with any rod in this lineup was correct.

A little more on my reasoning behind wanting a 7-wt. Although I know a 7-wt will be heavier and more tiring to cast, as well as overkill for landing most smallmouth, I'm thinking about casting heavy lures. My kit rod can lay out a floating fly with relative ease, but when I tie on a clouser minnow or a popper, it turns into a ball-and-chain. I think a 7-wt will cast the smallmouth-sized lures much better, although I admit I'd much rather throw a 5-wt because it's lighter.

I'm also aware that the reel is not critical. Unless I hook a giant catfish or something, I have no intention of using the reel except to hold my line. Certainly with the sunfish that I catch most of the time, stripping them in by hand is no sweat. On the other hand, the combos include not just a reel, but also WF line and backing, which can be quite costly if purchased separately.