Hi Jason
It is always useful to get a good idea on how big and how strong someone is in establishing what rod is suitable. We don't want to be responsible for someone being pulled overboard! That said, it also helps to have a good idea on what size fish you want to target, what size lures you want to use, whether you're looking for a rod that can work both stickbaits and poppers or essentially a popping rod etc.
As Jon has written below, how good a caster are you at this point?
If I take your comment that you are looking for one rod that can be used on Nomad charters, then realistically, you' be looking for a rod that will fish PE8-10 and can fish poppers well and throw the occasional stickbait. A few rods that come to mind are the Ripple Fisher GT79R, the Carpenter DJ-83MH, the Smith Komodo Dragon, The Zenaq FC80-10 or Hots GT77XH or GT77XXXH. If you're on a budget, check out the Shimano GT special.
In looking at this small group, the Zenaq and Hots will be more reasonably priced but are very good rods too. The Carpenters are nigh unobtainable and will remain a bit this way for the next twelve months (check with Jon Li for availability). The Smith and the Zenaq should be readily available (check with our sponsor, Fishhead). There will be no Hots GT77XXXH available for a few months yet. The Ripple should be readily available from Nomad Sportfishing.
If you're a strong caster, you can look at one of the shorter rods but if you need a bit of help, the longer rods would be better. Just remember that when you hook up, you will wish you had one of the shorter rods! A good compromise all round is the GT79R which is a very pleasing rod to fish.
If money is no object, you can look at other rods such as Patriots or Fisherman. The Fisherman GT Game T-RSH is an absolute dream but this needs to be custom ordered and that will be the start of your problems!
