i used to fish a cheap van staal rod which did work but when fishing with a mate with a carpenter he used to outfish me everytime if you can afford a carpenter rod buy one not only are they super powerful and cast well they make it very easy to swim your baits which is important when targeting large kingfish as they are smarter fish in my opinion and will shy away from a skipping stickbait go talk to boys at yeehaa they will steer you in the right direction they will also fix you up with a carpenter stickbait to go with your rod which is a must ask for luke he knows his topwater and has put me on some good fish 

Put it the other way - is a Carpenter twice as good as a 1/2 price alternative?

No.

It's many times better.

Do it once, do it right. plenty of other alternatives also in the higher end range

You won't get all the benefits of a high end rod if you're only willing to swim budget baits. Also, if you're planning on landing a couple of kings a budget rod will prob suffice, 20-50 kings in a day, then a high end rod will absorb alot more of the hurt, and will better attract the bigger models (using high end lures), of course this only comes after practice, and with all types of fishing, some days nothing will work. 

Thanks for the advice. I just purchased a brand new shiny Carpenter BLC 83/35R Power Max!

awesome mate you can stop any king that swims the ocean now you wont be disapointed

knotflash wrote: Thanks for the advice. I just purchased a brand new shiny Carpenter BLC 83/35R Power Max! Cheers Yeehaa and Luke for all your help. Much appreciated.

Nice one mate they are beasts I've got the 83/40 & still haven't maxed it out. What reel you planing on putting on it?
Pete

Another type of gamble, throw exy stickbaits around wash with lots of kelp and swells too big to get near the rocks.....