I was fishing in and around darwin with a 6ft 6in silstal crystal blue and 65lb whiplash on a beefed up stradic 8000 and won more battles than I lost with GTs up to 60lb. Just a thought!! 

http://fishwrecked.com/forum/shimano-tcurve-bluewater-spin-15-24kg-1-3kg-shimano-t-curve-spin-rod

i have a stradic 8000 i also was thinkin i got a saragosa 18000, i know its low gear ratio but for 2 trips im sure i can deal with this reel? Or possibly still buy the stella and use it for jigging also, decisions decisions

are the shimano Tcurve GT specials any good?

to many options.. lures or bait . tackle, place, rigs hahah unplanned trips work best i reckon

mmm sometimes and some times not haha.

Couple from Lemax / Ajiking that are available:

Ajiking Pro Italy Pop (below) - 8' PE6.  Fast tapered, tough rods.

Lemax FerariStik - 8'6" PE6. These are great rods, may be a smidge oversize for what you're looking for though?  Well priced too.

Marko, the GT Special is more than capable of landing most G's encountered in WA, the downside to this rod is that it is heavy to use for extended periods of time. I own one but haven't used it as yet, I upgraded before I had the chance to, still makes a good back up rod though.
Where are you planning to go, and realistically how much popper fishing will you do once there??

 why not have a look at the daiwa demon bloods and the azusa range of rods both well and truely affordable and outstanding rods both performance and looks wise.

The Shimano GT Special is a great rod for the price, and I also used a Jigging Master GT Monster in NZ for popping and it was sweet.

I would go as far as saying it is easily the BEST entry level genuine popping rod on the market

there are other rods howevr a genuine popping rod is vastly different to any other standard 25kg spin rod

exmouth steve, a few times here n there i will go i guess. How heavy is it?

I got this from Honsu before my recent trip north and love it.  It's a bit of everything really.  I did a lot of popping with it and tons of bottom bashing and trolling.  It did pick up a few GTs and other trevs up to 20-odd kg.  Down here, I'm using it to jig for sambos.  As an all-round rod, it's my favourite and casts nicely.  I also like the fact that I can take the rod butt off and fit the 2 pieces in a short rod holder for flying/driving etc.

edit - it also managed to get a fat 6ft whaler out of the reef and onto the boat

Marko, it weighs 550 gms, which ordinarily doesn't sound like like much, but if you are using it all day trying to belt out 150-200gm  poppers it becomes super heavy.

true, might have to do my home work find some lighter ones that dont cost too much. I could deal with the GT special im pretty sure... just have sore arms that night :)

Marko, unless your gonna cough up +$800, or get a second hand one offf some dodgy character who has has probably ubused it and gone and bought a new ripplefisher to replace it............the GT special is probably a pretty  good option. The boys lined up a heap for me to check out, and sure the Carpenter and Smith felt better, but they were more than tripple the price.....

Plus, you a self confessed "pretty strong bloke" so you should have no dramas!!!! haha.

Cheers, John

haha funny sweet i think im in for a GT special then :)

How much do you want to spend Hoookt? The GT special is a good entry level rod but as already mentioned it's a quite a heavy rod (physically) and quite heavy actioned. Some consider it a serious PE10-12 rod. If you're mainly going to be throwing smaller poppers in the 120-150g range you'll probably find this quite a physically taxing outfit to use and not very enjoyable.

I think a good choice would be to go with the SW10000 with the 16000 spool and PE8, and for a couple of hundred dollars more than the GT Special you could get a Daiwa Saltiga SG Muramura 76 which is rater PE6-8 but 200g lighter. I think this would be far more versatile outfit but can still knock over pretty decent GT's.

http://kaiser-pro-shop.blogspot.com/2010/07/kaiser-el-toro-150-gt-casting-rod.html

You will find this quivalently priced and significantly lighter than the GT special.

Nomad have long since discontinued use of the GT special on their charters.

I am happy to debate with Brad here about the GT special, because frankly speaking, I think it is too heavy of a rod (both in terms of weight and action) to be comfortably used all day by many. There certainly are quite a few other options out there.

Although not all may be available locally, there is a favourable exchange rate that could make up for the cost of shipping.

The Smith WRC80P/35 is another example, which is not too far off the price if you purchase it in USD and may be equivalent if you purchase second hand.

you guys, have you ever owned a GT special. I had one for a year. Constantly casted lures around the 150 gram range and never had an issue. Sounds like those (who are good mates of mine by the way) seemed to have developed an opinion without ever using or owning the rod for any length of time.

they are good rods.

So there not that bad ay brad? im not a young kid so im sure i could deal with it...

I'm with Brad. I have a Stella SW 10000 with 80 lb braid and bought a GT special for it. only made three casts so far as I've been on bottom bashing trips!!

It felt good though and will be fine for a couple of hours casting.

well i think im going to just use my saragosa  on my new rod and save a bit of money this time, buy more jigs, need poppers hooks etc. i think it will do the job for a couple gt popping sessions a year

I could cast the thing all day long, it wouldn't bother me, but I can say that my Zenaq is much more comfortable to use. Being a brickie by trade I'm used to labour intensive work. I simply based my comment on the greater public, who don't most of the time, have as demanding jobs and therefore would tire much quicker. 
As discussed Marko in PM, you would have no dramas with it. It's like everything, it just boils down to budget!!

Agree to both sides of the story here (poor debater, I know). I suppose what's important... especially amongst us people that do a fair bit of heavy popping work, is not to compare our more high end gear to the entry level gear.

As Steve mentioned, the difference in comfortability & weight is quite obvious when comparing to higher end brands.

For a beginner, I simply try not to recommend a rod that I feel will hurt them. It's actually hard to guage how people will cope with GT gear. Some people come across as fairly strong & stocky, but then can't cope on GT's up to 15-20kg.

On the other hand, you see some small Japanese anglers acting like superman on biiiiiiiig fish.

I hear people talk about how easy it is to fight big sambos & that their experiences jigging can be adapted to GT popping. Fighting fish on a 5 foot rod is nothing like fighting a fish on an 8 foot popping rod!

It's difficult, so my advice would be to give it ago, regardless of what rod you choose. Get a feel for the sport & see if it grows on you. Hey, I started out with a kaibutsu.

Importantly, GT gear is quite easy to sell. There's a good market for GT gear... even at the entry level.

thats it Daz, yo knocked it on the head. The GT special is by no means as comfortable for me as my top end rods

however

it is great value for money and a good entry level rod, that is the whole point of my arguement

i think we can agree, it is better than using a 24kg spin rod that is not designed for gt fishing and it will easily knock over a 40 kg fish

Marko's a big strong boy, or so he keeps telling us!! All jokes aside he lays bricks for a living, I'm thinking he will have no bother. It's just nice to use good shit!... and less taxing!!

Just for a change of subject... Should we call it intermission, 
I have tracking on my order, and they cleared AUS customs yesterday, so maybe delivered tomorrow??? Boat will be fixed by this time next week. It would be nice, because I haven't seen it for almost a month!!!

hahahaha steve  :P Yeh if i enjoy it and think im going to do it more often i will go out and buy a top end rod dw and a stella to go but yeh im just going to use my gosa 18K for now. low gear ratio i know but will the Gt special have a soft enough tip for my low gear ratio reel and to reel the slack in quicker?

It will be fine to begin with BUT,  most who have posted on this subject want to try and eliminate the "poor man buys twice" scenario. If you have the money, buy a 18000 Stella or a Doggie, and go for broke on the rod!! 
I can guarantee that if you go serious popper fishing, you won't look back and it will open a very expensive new can of worms!!

for versatility. We wernt going out all day popping for GTs. Just on certain stages of the tide. So it was good to have a combo that would do a bit of everything. I used this for jigging for macks, trolling and bottom donging. Even with the shorter 6ft 6 in lenght could still punch out a 60 to 70 mtr cast with poppers up to about 130gms. I found also that I had more leverage against the fish with a shorter stick. As for keeping line clear off bommies ect when hooked up the difference of a foot to 2 foot at the angler could be measured in under 10 centimetres at the other end. I found that a competent boat driver to be much more crucial and advantageous when landing a big gt. Just for the record I have fished with the Gt special. I found the rear grip to be way to long for me and became annoying. I would have ended up hack sawing it shorter. Iam only a short ass though at 5'9". The saga continues

haha well to be honest i dont think i will do it to much for at least a few years. When i am well settled with money, the house, the boat i keep talkin about buying and all that then ill think about booking more of these holidays. Im only 23 many years ahead of me. Atm enjoying my jigging and the plastics etc many more forms of fishing to explore :) cant wait though

I don't think any one was saying they weren't good Brad, but the points that were brought up I think are quite valid, regardless of whether you've used one (I have by the way). I think what Kasey was trying to say was that there are other options available in the same price range that would be far more comfortable to use as an entry level rod. A lot of new rods have been released since you bought your GT special.

agree mate, but i can coment on those becuase i have never used them

Brad I forget - of course a GT special wouldn't give you problems. You're bloody fishing with an Ripple Fisher XH!

Fishnut how long is that diablo u got and what are they worth?