It didn't help that the biggest fish of the trip hit the lightest rod, reel and line combo we were using, even while we were chasing it with the boat it was still taking line. When we caught up and had it near the boat it did a couple laps under the boat, I had the rod deep in the water and CM was pivoting the boat over it quickly to get the correct position. This happened a couple of times, at the end of one of these maneuvers the line just went slack.

That 40 year old 5000 or whatever it is really got a work out, I think you said it had a 3 to 1 retrieve ratio, I know that was the fastest I've ever spun a crank handle. Had we not chased it I would have been easily spooled even though it was filled with light braid.