In saltwater, like Matt is saying, you are fishing deep and you need a firm hookset. Any of the Shimano 812, 815, 820 rods are great for big hammers. The Okuma swimbait rods have the right actions also. The thing in saltwater is that the fish don't jump, well at least most don't.

If largemouth bass didn't jump, or if I was fishing mostly 25lb test and could fully horse the fish in, I'd use the same stiff rods like above. The problem is that they do jump, and I fish mostly 16lb test with big hammers, and consequently the bass have a bad habit of spitting the bait with 3/4 or 1oz leadheads. That's why for largemouth I throw the Rainshadow SW976 which is an 8' composite action. It has the power to move the fish but it is not a stiff rod by any means. The basic idea for me is to stick them as hard as possible, reel as fast as possible, and if they are heading up to jump, use all 8 feet of the rod to try to hold them down. Where you lose a lot of fish is when they eat it in shallow water and they jump immediately. Its just a tough situation when that happens.

This is the time of year when the big hammer bite gets going for me on grass lakes especially. All the bluegill and shad up shallow make that bite really turn on :) I need to go fishing...