Not so sure about the reel, but for the rods have a look into the shimano nexave (9') or the rovex bario (10' or more depending on model).

I have the first rod and I quite like it (and can belt out a 60g popper 100m :D). Depends how light you want the rod and what action, as extra length will always help you (could go up to 12' or more if you wanted).

how good can you cast normally ?? the best gear in the world will struggle to do what your asking if you cant cast well . and why do you need to cast that far ??

salmon are just as easy to cast to with your 4000 and a 9 -10 foot graphite rod maybe running pe2. anything more is just a pain to cart around.

salmon are clean fighters so you dont need heavy lines and the braid with a casting leader will easy do the job your after.

I would say I'm quite adept in casting but sometimes the schools are just out of reach which is frustrating...

plus the handle on the reel is so small and line retrieve is too slow it gets tiring...

I've got a Daiwa Emblem Pro 5500 reel on a Penn Big Game Surf 6810 (now called rovex bario) and it casts a 65 or 85gm Raider a bloody mile with either 20lb mono or 30lb braid....  costs about $400 for that combo..plus line

I would stick your Exceller on either a Shimano Shorespin 9' or the Nexave or even go the Rovex Bario 10' and spool your reel up with 14lb braid

I have two combos I'm using.
both are Live Fibre rods, one is heavier single piece 8foot ( I think need to check but it could be a ZWS80XJ 15-24kg Spin) 15kg outfit with a Saltiga 4500 on it for throwing out heavy lures and poppers, it also doubles up as a GT rig.

other is two piece lighter one, about 10foot in length and I use either my Penn 260 Slammer on it or my Certate 4000, both work well. ( 6-10kg rod)

Bang for buck, I'd get a Penn 360 Slammer ( very under rated a strong reel) and a Live Fibre rod for about $200 or even a Snyderglas MT 120,

you could do the rod, reel and braid for under $400.

Or you could go for one of the $99 Starlo Stix that the Tackle Shack were selling and a nice Stradic.

thanks guys..

had a squiz on campbells and the emblem 5500 looks sweet...

couldnt find anything on the rovex though?

ill vouch for the nexave, i use my mates with my spheros and it casts a mile and a good feel to it aswell.

mate ive got a stradic 6000, spooled with 14 pound braid, and a 9ft starlo stix

does the job well and casts a mile!!

I also have a lemax rod from oceanside, excellent rods, see if you can get one of these in about 9ft and you could catch anything with it

Ill second the lemax.

 I have a Blue mountain 9'. good for casting 20-50g because its a bit soft but great for fighting. They make a couple of heavier rods to suit larger lures also. I have a 3000 Tierra on mine but a 4000 Daiwa/5000 Shimano would probably be better.

70gram lures are pretty big, most salmon type lures I use are 30-40g. The 4000 Exceler would be perfect and the blue mountains are only around $220.

I use a 9' Nexave and find it to be a damn sweet rod! Only caught 1-3kilo Big Eye and Bludger trevally up north on it so far but found it to handle them easily while still being light enough to have a lot of fun. I was using my Sustain 4000 on it but found the handle too small and the ratio too slow for spinning. Ill be putting either a 6000 or 8000 sized Saragosa on it with 20lb braid this coming Friday. Much faster retrieval and way bigger handle for high speed spinning :)

i reckon go the 9ft starlo stix shorespin, couple with an salina II, exceller or spheros. Should run you around 500 inc a decent 20lb braid.

Other rod to look at is the eupro twincraft or penulum.

We stock all of them and either would be an awesome combo.

My outfits i use for salmon personally are; xzoga mastery 8'3" ma-s pe2 marrried to rovex big boss with 15lb TD sensor, eupro penulum 8'2" 30lb married to okuma flame F40 with 20lb fins, lemax president 8' 30-40lb and lemax president 9' 40lb both shared with penn accord 6000 with 20lb tuff.

My outfits arent exactly top of the range, but still all decent and i've had no complaints with any.

I use all these outfits several times every week and nothing has gone wrong with em.
You dont need to go fancy, gear catches you, you need to do the work to catch the fish either way you go about it.

i got myself a nice 9' lemax president royal eqipped with a shimano spheros about 2-3 weeks ago for salmon, havent used it yet but my mate also has the same rod with a plfueger illusion and casts a mile...the setup with braid should cost you around 400ish

thanks everyone for the input....looks like ill have to have a look at the lemax and starlo. might pop by tomorrow Chan

 prob won't change the reel my exceler 4000 should be ok. just abit annoyed at the small handle............

i wont be in tomorrow. Honsu, ryan or both the guys will be there, in case they havent read the post, get them to jump on the computer out the back and have a squizz at this thread so they can have a good idea. They'll surely have something for ya. I know the shorespin has been ordered already and is on its way from shimano, penulum is on stock. Theres another combo made up for the easter specail, disregard the reel on it, get the guys to find it, its round 8-9ft graphite, also a good rod but i forget the brand of it. But check it out also. I've looked at it for myself and its good.

Good luck finding what you're chasing and im sure you'll find a cracker of an outfit through all the suggestions here.

Hey check out the Maria Miss Carnia stickbait too, its a sick lure for salmon. And also, ask em about an aftermarket knob for your existing reel. I think there might be the RCS knob that'll fit your reel in the store, if not, speak to honsu and he can source you something as he loves all the bling and he'll suggest how you can go about getting something that suits ya.

i have a 8 foot saltiga dorado M over 80s teamed up with a certate 4000, 20lb suffix performace braid and a spare spool with 35lb YGK jigman, should do the job this weekend i hope, heading down to albany. this thing casts metals an absolute mile, i love it.

 the other combo i have is a 7 and a half foot starlo stix 4-7kg teamed up with a daiwa tierra 4000, this is the cheaper of the two combo's and would probably come in at under $500 including 20 and 30lb tuffline, very nice combo, it should get a work out this weekend also i hope

 good luck to all the salmon chasers this weekend

 cheers

Last weekend at Hamelin Bay, anything under 13 ft, and the ability to cast at least 100g effectively would not catch fish consistently. When the opportunity arose I used a Saltiga M Over 80, but it only accounted for 3 or 4 fish, when one of my mates using a 13 ft getup made most on the beach [including myself] look pretty stupid!!! He caught at least 75% of our fish, which has been happening for at least the last 5 years now. Your outfit would also depend on where you are fishing, but on the beach distance is crucial!!

yes. was at hamelin last time and my 8footer could not reach the schools while this other guy with 13 footer was getting all the hook ups.....

hrmmmmm......

thanks guys, went and bought a Rovex Bario 11 footer. Looks sweet as. will give it a test tomorrow!!!