I fished yuhina's XXL 6-0 St. Croix rod last week on the Coosa river.
This combo rod is really better suited for spinning gear, so after picking up bream and catfish on it with a Martin tuna can I switched out to my Shakespeare Sigma spinning reel. The reel isn't vintage (unless you consider a decade vintage) but is well-matched to the St Croix. This reel doesn't hold much line, under 100 yds of Stren 4# mono.
Casting a worm on a tiny weighted #8 hook, I'm thinking panfish. Boom, away she goes out to the middle of the slough. Now I'm thinking big cat or carp
I had the drag cranked down 80-90%, the fish made several strong runs after being brought within maybe fifteen feet
About twenty minutes later I'm getting a bit tired
I had to walk the shoreline quite a bit to keep it from circling under the two piers. After thirty minutes the carp was as tired as I was. Check the bend- the St Croix was totally up for this battle
A chunk. He boiled and snapped the line while at my feet, it didn't help that I had the line wrapped around the left-side gills. Time for a beverage