I spooled those up with straight 20lb trilene big game for trolling. I can still cast them just fine. I caught my biggest king casting with an abu garcia 6500. That's the last reel I bought with a star drag. A lever drag is much more useful. I've watched people overspin their star drags and it freespools while a fish is running, backlash and it breaks off. You can make it impossible to do that with a lever drag.
The rods are actually cheap Okuma Classic Pro's. One of the best trolling rods I've found and they are really affordable. I wouldn't hesitate to throw one of these on a halibut rod though with some braid. They can handle it.
Again, this is my uninformed 2 cents.
What do I know....
I know we're talking about 2 totally different types of fishing. I don't like playing with my food or fish. High speed reels are great if your going to fight the fish and not pull on the fish. Some people are foolish enough to think you need to set the hook when a fish bites instead of just reeling.
