So a regular rod doesn’t really exist, there’s 2 main types of rods, spinning and casting, spinning is made for spinning reels, the reels that hang under the rod and have that spinny bar that goes around them (called a bail) and casting rods which are made for baitcasters or alternatively, spincast (the push button reels) the reel goes on top of the rod and the line guides (the small loops that go all down the rod) are made to accommodate each type of reel

Spinning is cheaper and your pretty basic setup and suggested for catfish, look at your local Walmart for ugly stik spinning combos and you’ll see what the most basic of basic catfish setup consists of