He's got a pretty decent beach set up (moonraker I think) - he's been cleaning up on tailor at the moment.

The Nitros are a pretty awesome rod and the new baitrunners are great reels - so you are heading in the right direction there.
My only suggestion - as you mentioned that you have never had a beach rod before - would be whether you need to go to the high end of the market with a rod like a Nitro.
If you aren't used to using big, powerful rods like a Nitro it can be a bit tricky to start off with.
As Matt mentioned, I use a Daiwa Moonraker, another great beach rod - but another rod I wouldn't recommend to someone starting out with beach fishing as the factory built Moonraker has a very high reel seat and they can be difficult to cast unless you have had a bit of experience, and get tiring to hold onto as well if you are fishing for lengthy periods.

My best suggestion to you would be to pop in and have a word to site sponsors Ryan and Honsu at Oceanside in O'Connor if you are south of the river, or Matt, Blake and Bruce down at the Tackleshack in Malaga if you are north of the river.
Get them to make some suggestions on a rod that would suit your body type and fishing requirements.
There are some awesome beach rods available for a fraction of the price of a Nitro that fit the bill for what you want to do. Some of the new Lemax rods for example are really great quality.

As for the baitrunner, if you want to use it as an allround reel I would probably suggest the 4000 size as it will have the grunt to deal with the bigger fish, but will still provide you with a lighter feel when fishing for the bread and butter stuff like whiting and hering, etc.

However, if you were to go ahead with the Nitro, I would think you would need to maybe go as high as an 8000.

Hope this helps, and please ask as many questions as you like as there are many people on here who are always happy to help.

hi johnson

not sure if this helps you but i am seeling a 12ft shakespeare navigator with a prius reel spooled with 11kg line for $50

the pics are in the buy sell swap trade section under beach rod for sale.

thanks heaps for the advice colin. You seem to have vast experience in beach fishing and it is greatly appreciated. Yeah I live north and always call matt if I am looking for great fishing gear. I have bought two rods from him already and they are awesome. I have been researching the lemax rods and would gladly get a 10ft one if it gave me comparable casting distances as the nitro. Another reason for the nitro would be that it's 3pc and i only have a small hatchback so anything more than 9ft 2pc is awkard to place in the boot or back seat and has to stick from the boot up to the driver area. Probably the max. i would want to cast is about 50m from the shore as that would be sufficient but the biggest battle seems to be casting into the teeth of a 20+knot south wester which tailor seem to love.

As for the baitrunner 4000 size sounds pretty good to me.

Will do some more research and cheers to everyone for the help.

that I am sure is a three piece. That thing should cast a mile.

You may think you need 3-pc but I can get 1-pc 7' rods into the front seat of the ute 2-door cab, just takes a bit of practise.

if youre just fishing around the metro area, you dont need a 13' foot rod to learn with, you only need a beach rod if youre fishing in heavy surf or away from waters edge, rocks

agree with  all  the comments,id start of with a basic 10ft to 12ft beach combo like a jarvis walker combo which are pretty good value for the begginer and very reasonably priced,learn to cast first and get a feel for the rod, when you are confident enough then get a better quality rod,i used to practice casting at my local park,which i basicaly taught myself when i was 12 years old ,by observing my father fishing at the beach and north mole and then putting into practice ,anyway   enjoy your new beach fishing venture