It comes down to what type of lures you want to use, Peter. if you want to use big poppers, then unfortunately, you need a rod that can pop them. Pease don't get the impression though that NC is nothing but super heavy tackle with monster poppers. Of course, you can fish that if you want but you will find a lighter outfit much easier to fish for long periods of time.
You sound in pretty damn good shape - makes me jealous! That said, your first trip and particularly your first experience in working big lures is going to be exhausting. Also, with really big poppers, there is no point using them unless you can really utilsie the big cup. I have seen quite a number of people in the past casting huge poppers like I Cups but generating a smaller chug than I can get with a mid-sized popper.
I only use the really big poppers sparingly. I leave the long periods of working monster poppers these days to the fit young blokes like Luke. If this was my first trip to NC and my first popping trip overall, I would look for a rod that could fish both poppers and stickbaits, is at that transtion point between PE8-10 and would focus on mid-weight lures in that 150g category. I would then have two spools for my reel - one with PE8 and one with PE10.
I'd suggest you look at something like a Ripple 79R or a Carpenter Monster Hunter MH80H.
