Eric,

After reading what you are looking for and looking to do, I think I found something that won't break the bank and will fit the bill for what you are wanting to do with it.

Although I do not own one, I have had the thought of building one ever since I had one in my hands about 5 years ago. A fellow Crappie Dot Com member had one built and was at a camp. I had the opportunity to put the rod in my hands and I really loved the action and feel of the rod. It was a 9ft rod built on a 4wt fly blank. Unfortunatley, they don't seem to make this exact model anymore however, you can get it in a 5 wt 9 foot model. I am specifically referring to the American Tackle Company "Matrix" fly rod blank series.

American Tackle Matrix Fly Rod Blanks

These blanks on "noodle rods" for the most part. They have a moderate fast action and a lot of whip!

For a slightly more expensive blank BUT a ligher in the hand model with a little faster action, I would suggest the MHX 9ft 4wt in a two piece model.
MHX F904-MHX Fly Rod Blank | mudhole.com

Two piece rods in longer lengths are getting harder and harder to find. Looking to the fly rod section is alway a great option for longer rods as you can still build them in to a great spinning rod.

These are just a few ideas. Now that you kind of have what you are looking for, go ahead and look through the catalogs and see if you can find a comparison. I like to compare "Actual Rod weights". The two above, although the same in length, and action are vastly different in terms of weight in the hand. Still much lighter than a traditional crappie rod that sometimes come in at pretty heavy weights.