Hi, I'm after a rod for fishing for kingfish from the beach. I'll be using 30lb mono and a Penn Slammer 3 7500. I'll be live baiting - slide baiting and maybe casting, gently, yellow-eyed mullet with a running sinker rig. The rod won't be used for distance casting and I think it could be a shorter rod, about 12 ft. I know people recommend a long rod for slide baiting, but I'm mostly going to be doing short range river mouth fishing, where I don't think a long rod is very necessary. I think it could be good if the rod had a softish tip for casting small live bait + maybe for cushioning when the kingfish is in the surge.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of choice. Most of the gutsy rods are geared towards distance casting and are longer. Shorter rods tend to be cheaper models. I think I like the sound of the American-style surf rod - a bit shorter and slower. I hadn't heard of CTS till fairly recently - they make blanks that'd do the trick. But they're expensive and it seems a bit hard making contact with the company. I'd rather buy something I can handle in the shop than get something through the internet from overseas.