Thanks Wayne,
I have been wondering about these rods for a while now and it is impossible to find a decent review on the net so good to finaly here some feedback, keen to here from anyone else as well. After reading through this post and what Brandon has said about the Carpenter DJ-83MH, I am seriously considering saving my pennies for a bit longer and treating myself to one of these bad boys. I am new to this style of fishing but have been keen to get into it for years but living on the gold coast, won't be doing it all that much (only on holidays once, maybe twice a year, although plans are in place for a bigger boat to access a certain area I know GT have been taken on poppers to 40kg). With this and cost in mind, I'll probably only be buying one setup, already sold on the stella and if I can afford it, sounds like it may be worth while spending the extra money on the carpenter.
Brandon, earlier on you mentioned the stella 18000 was arguably the best GT reel on the market, I'm just curious as to why the 18000 over the 20000?