Grandpa's Fishin Buddy, I think you answered my question. I do point my rod at snags to break them lose. Always have. In the past I've never had reel problems as a result when using mono, however, it makes perfect sence the inherantly higher tensile strength of Fireline would strain gears when doing so. I had my suspitions but needed to hear it from someone else with similar experience. I guess I'll go back to mono.