The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

There are many options and it just depends how serious your friend wants to get.
There are 2 SA combos and one in the $60-70 range and the other is in the $120 range. Cortland make some combos too and they cast pretty good. You could go with the ST. Croix reign which is medium fast with a okuma reel and SA headstart line. TFO low end cast very nice too. Some of the combos are junk but the SA and Cortland are decent. Redington Wayfarer was a nice casting rod which was a 5 piece. Spend a little extra on a decent line. Most all rods in that range are workable and some come with lifetime warrenty. Reel just holds the line.

My 2 cents

Jet

My sons first outfit was a Scott Alpha on cloesout for $150, Orvis rocky mountain reel $30 & Kiene's gave us a line for free(Kids get special treatment). You could give them a call and I'm sure they may be able to put something together for you.