I used my pink panther(the original rocky) today...was casting most of my lures 100 metres with ease(off the bricks)...I have caught kings up to 22.5 kg on this rod(with a poxy 6500 that has only 7.5 kg of max drag)...It has never given me back pain at all...have caught 16 and 18 pound snappers on it too....has a great action which tires fish pretty quickly and only weighs 400 grams.(rods were not light at that time)It also has grunt down low....so i can recommend it for a newbie(especially off the rocks)....i wouldnt use it for the boat as its a bit stiff in the mid section for that but it worked my stick baits and poppers very well.If you plan to fish off the bricks...would be a good starter but if you want to boat fish...go for a caranx but you have to ask yourself why so many people are selling them?

fishntips wrote: It is a stiff pole of a rod from yesteryear. You would find it extremely hard to get thing to even bend. It has a short limp and bendy bit on the end. Do you remember those stiff graphite rods with the little soft bit on the end, from that era. The sort of rod that loads up ridiculously unenevenly i.e. super soft to super stiff. rod like that would kill you on a kingfish from a boat. Can't understand why it is being recommended here. Things have come along along way since these sorts of rods The shimano t-curve and offshore illusion will get you there for around the 4 to 5 hundy mark, won't break your wallet or your back and would swim sticks and small poppers no problems. Can remember before christmas there were about 4 shimano caranx Kaibutsu  rods on here in the buy/sell, seemed like alot of people upgrading as the bug grabs hold.