Robert, a bit late in replying, but i have also found pencil poppers useful there for some of the reasons mentioned earlier - they cast a LONG way, and also can still be worked behind a moving boat a lot better than chuggers. I use an LR 88 and also a Tenryu 9ft 6 inch PE 5-6 rod for the them. Another fave lure there is the goold old Yozuri Bull - yet again casts a long way on PE 5 and can be worked easily while a boat moves along a reef edge (have had sailfish hit them there). Decisions to be made on catching lots of fish vs GT's or only large GT's. The place can yield a lot of smallish fish. Also it is worth trying chuggers over the top of some of the small deep reefs, by that i mean small bommies whose tops are 25-30m beneath the surface. Have the boat circle them once. The maldives has it all, deep drop offs, shallow reefs, calm lagoon type areas. Hope that little helps. I reckon an EP 85 or a LR 88 would be an ideal rod for there if you decide to not bother with big chuggers.
One of the skippers i have fished with actually uses an 11ft Beachcaster as his popping rod with about pe 8, it looked brutal to play a fish on, but certainly belted out lures a long way and covered a lot of water.
