I don't know about the elite , but I use 2 standard 7 foot ugly stick casting rods as bottom bouncer rods and they do backup as trolling rods also. They aren't a high end rod, but they've handled a lot of fish and I've been pretty happy with them. I've even used one for casting plugs from time to time and they do the job no problem. I have other rods that I like better for that though. I think they're a pretty good value .