Even Frank no longer uses those classics---although those old yellow Lamis never broke and you could crank a 20 pounder over the wavetops using one. His go-to rod is a 9' Fisher graphite (another one ya can't get any more
)
You can still get those yellow Lamis, but the blanks cost as much as a Batson Rainshadow and almost as much as an All-Star. Most of them were cut to size, which voided the warranty, but the warranty wasn't something you had any reason to worry about on those yellow monsters.
I like John's reel choices, too. The only thing I'd add is, if you fish the Canal a lot, you might want to go up to something in the Abu 7000/Newell 229/Daiwa SL-30 size range.