when it comes to fishing the salt around here, anything longer then 12'6" is too long and I feel 11-12' to be the optimum length. a shorter two-handed rods allows you to efficiently make long casts of the beach but at the same time does not inhibit your ability to strip the fly right to your feet. plus the shorter rod allows you to get the head outside your rod so much quicker with less effort so you can shoot a mile of line in a lot less time. in turn your fly is in the water so much longer (and the more your fly is in the water, the more fish you are going to catch).

plus all these longer two-handed overhead rods, say 15' and 16', are complete and utter overkill for our fish around here because they are equivalent to and #10 and #11's. your quarry is going to be cutts and small coho...hell even a large strong chum would be hard pressed to put a bend in one of those rods. the rods that fred are talking about are popular for fishing the surf in austrailia where massive casts with massive flys for massive fish is the name of the game.

favored two-handed rods for fishin' the beaches around here:
11' #7 Winston BIIX (not overkill for cutts)
*new* GLoomis Native Run GLX 11' #7
CND Oceana 11' 9/10 (was the Atlantis)
Sage 6126
Sage 8126
GLoomis Stinger GLX 12'6" 7/8, 8/9 ir 9/10

...just the match the aforementioned rods with the appropriate Rio Outbound and you are set.

p.s. your exact applications for the rod will
determine what rod is best for you.