Re levinlarges pictures,

I have a Daiwa power crest 13ft 3pc which i used to have a GS9 fitted

i dont know much about the history of this rod,which ive owned for 6-7 years. still going strong fished both rocks and surfcasting all i have done is have 3 new guides fitted.

very strong rod with good lifting power,this rod has been used and abused and still has plenty of life left out of all my other rods this would be my favourite

Try find another reel for the kings especially if livebaiting.

TLD25 or SLD30 - cant really go wrong with either of them

Just moved from a shimano beastmaster 10 ft to 8ft6' lime tip and it makes a big difference in both in terms of power and handling fish, I can also still flick out a bait as far as the beastmaster.

smellyfingers I have put the limetip with my 9500 so I can flick out poppers, baits etc. I'm just needing to get a good overhead live bait setup to free up the lime tip which I have been using for live baiting recently, I will have to save the pennies up and use my sl30 until I have enough.   [/QUOTE wrote:   If it were me i'd use the 9500 and limetip as the livebait rig and the SL30 as an alrounder, the 9500 would have more drag pressure than the SL30 would it not. Just a possibility.

Gday i fish the takatu up to waipu area land based, i only target snapper as i am in search of 20lber. I use an alvey rockhopper with a kilwell 12ft 8-12kg rod, this thing just keeps tickin has taken many blows to rocks that other reels would crumple into peices, (ie 10m off a cliff onto rocks) has never had a service and has seen more under the water than above. The thing has incedible casting power and i only ever use one 8-9bar hook tied onto 15kg mainline. It cost an arm and a leg but it has paid for its self many times over. I know this reel will last forever, don't know about the rod but that just because of the treatment it receives when it gets pair pressured into coming with me on stratigic  operations during the search of 20lbr. I find it absolutly priceless landing bigger snapper on because once you turn the fish, the brutal 1:1 ratio means that you can crank him in, and although it is hard work battling fish (another reason why I avoid kings) due to the 1:1 ratio, it has resulted in me landing more fish, more quickly (whih is most of the time important) and also more pannies skimming along the surface at pace than you will ever see. anything under 5lb just doesn't know what hits them. I can gaurente that anyone who hasn't tried an alvey, and only wants to catch snapper, and big ones, will be impressed by these excessively large reels that many like my self swear by.

Have used the composite developments 15-24kg 8' lbg rod for years smellyfingers they are one serious horse stick.  Used to have three of them liked them so much defenitely not an entry-level rod (think mine were $450 new and they dont make them anymore only the blanks), all my rods are ReelRods customs now.  Defenitely be a good deal if its in good nic (I sold my last one for $250 a month ago to a mate just starting out). 

there is a cd rock rod on there now for a mear $50 dam fine buy as well as a tld 50 for $350 dammmmmm

yeah thats a sweet deal BA