Hi guys,
I'm not 100% familiar with So Cal gear but I imagine anything would be possible but not ideal thats for sure. I certainly would never recommend targetting GT or such species without specialist gear.
Popping & Stickbaiting, particularly targetting larger species can apply a lot of stress to equipment, traditionally. So I would ask you, where and what species would you want to 'pop' for?
The main differences would be equipment weight and balance, rod actions and ability to cast/work a lure effectively and issues such as constanting modifying drag settings and line lay.
With certain popping and stickbaiting actions, slack can be present in order to achieve a particular action with a lure, thus slack line and easy laying onto the spool could present real problems in terms of management, birdnests and 'biting'.