Cy & Kerrin,
Hello from South Africa! While our conditions are vastly different to most of yours, here on our Northern East coast, and into Mozambique, we have some of the finest land based GT fishing in the world in my opinion, and guys have been casting homemade plugs/pencils/poppers from the beaches here for the last 25 years or more...
Most of our areas are heavy surf zones though, and rocky ledges, very seldom cliffs and such... bays and river mouths with lots of whitewater and plenty of current ( something they have in common ) seem the keys to getting the fish on the chew...
Most of the "popping" for GT's done here traditonally has been with 14ft surf rods, overhead reels like Trinidads loaded with .55mm mono or similar, and a heavy leader... but enough fish in excess of 40 kilos have been landed to rather learn from these methods than knock them...
the added distance a 14ft rod gives you is unquestionable, and especially in areas where you are fishing off the beach in heavy surf ( 6 to 10ft swell at times ) the extra length of the rod enables you to keep your line off ledges and reefs which a shorter rod might not be able to help you avoid.... Of course, with the extra length, comes the added leverage, and trying to fish 10 kilos of drag on anything over 10ft is going to get ugly in a hurry, and VERY painful!!!
The guys also swim livebaits for them at night as well, usually a Bonefish or wave garrick, also on long surf rods and Trinis/Saltigas....plenty of 50 kilo plus fish get taken this way
I think a compromise between 14ft surf rods and short 7'6" brutal GT rods is needed for a general land based set up.... A rod between 8 and 9 ft, possibly up to 9'6" which enables you to throw a long way, but still put the hurt on fish that you need to turn in a big way....
Land based popping for big GT's must really be the pinnacle of our pursuit I think... landing a 50 Kilo GT from the stones is an epic achievment I think...