Those Penn 975's are definately good reels...bulletproof no, but I haven't found a reel yet that is. You should be happy with that reel for a long time. Perfect for slow rolling big bucktails and pumping dawgs and pounders.

The Saltist is also a good reel for burning, I perfer the Trinidad, but those also come with a $410 price tag...OUCH.

And like I told you before Marc...I'll have a 9 footer for you at the MN show in April...you can stop worrying about that!