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I purchased the 5600L this past season and matched it to a 9 1/2 ft.one piece G.Loomis rod. It's the first spinning reel I ever owned and like it a lot. One nice feature is the infinite anti-reverse. The rest of my surf gear is conventional casting reels.

 

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Had to run into the basement rod rack. The model is SUR11425/Medium, rated for 3/8 to 1 1/2oz. lures.I do all my plugging in New England and it's more than adequate.

 

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Funny you mentioned it. The fact that it had an aluminum case vs. graphite is what sold me on it.I feel your're also correct about the Loomis rods. Checked out some of theit casting series rods, but I need another casting rod like I need a hole in the head.

 

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If you can still find them, the Penn 980 Magforce reels are tough to beat.They have plenty of line capacity plus the HT 100 drag system.Next step down is the Penn 970 Magforce, less capacity though.My other reels are the Daiwa Sealine 170H with magnetic control, have several of those. The others are the Daiwa 55H and 57H. I don't believe these reels are made any longer. You might try the Penn 525 MAG. Nice reel, but the kind of weights you are thinking of slinging, you'll need a shocker, which i am not a fan of as i am primarily a plugger.
The one rig I have for lomg distance chunking is a custom stick made up on a Fenwick Big Surf Stick blank topped off with a Penn 980 Magforce loaded with 30# mono. I can tell you from experience that I have never had a crack-off, but I digress. The 525 MAG should fit the bill. Others may differ, but these are the reels that work for me.