I didn't know that they made the St. Aidan with a disc drag. My ancient click-and-pawl St. Aidan has landed many steelhead on rivers of all sizes and I have never felt it was in any way inadequate. Steelhead fly fishermen here in the northwest have been making their own custom lines at least since the 'sixties. Lines that are tailored to the conditions that you normally fish are easy to make. For years I've used (from back to front) 100 feet of .032 diameter floating running line looped to 15 feet of floating belly one weight heavier than the rod's rated weight and, finally, a selection of Type IV or Type VI heads ranging from 12 to 18 feet depending on the depth and current speed being fished. The loop-to-loop connections are not a problem because the only time they are brought inside the tip guide is when landing a fish. When casting, the rear end of the belly is brought back within a foot or so of the rod tip, the thirty or thirty-five feet of belly and head are brought up with a roll cast and double-hauled with no more than one or two false casts to make the shoot. This keeps the false casting to a minimum and the line and fly fishing most of the time