I've actually dabbled in long distance casting years ago. I still have all my gear. custom surf rods made by Ryan White(master class) competitive caster from hatters jacks. Rods Made on conoflex(1st rod company to reach 900ft) blanks. Breakaway rods and purglas from South Africa, Penn ppt pendulum etc. all my reels are Abu 5500, 6500 ctc3 reels with no level winds. Also a penn 525 mag. There are 3 basic reels used by all competitive casters. Abu 5500/6500, penn 525, and DAIWA millionaire mag model. All the reels will be set up with an additional knob for braking and Good bearings. The line is usually 8-10lb mono with shock leader being 10x the lbs vs weight of the weight. 4oz=40lb, 5oz=50lb, with just enough shock leader to wrap around the spool 4-5 times. Top rods are century, conoflex and zziplex. With reels mounted at bottom of the handle for most leverage. These guys are using basically the same equipment. It is the person and technique that makes the difference. Period. There is no arguing this. Certain casting techniques are more powerful than others and get more distance. I.e. Off the ground cast(fairly powerful) and the pendulum(most powerful and most distance) this is also proven on the field. Spinning rods don't come close the bait asters in this realm also. Though none of this has anything to do with bass fishing it has help me be a really good caster. most good bass reels will have close to the same performance. It has more to do with the man loading the rod. Each Rod performs differently for casting. Bottom line is your not casting for records or bragging rights on the lake. Cast to your intended targets and be reasonable with the distance because physics is against you(hook setting capability at distance). Sorry for the long post. Btw, If anyone is interested in learning to power cast with long rods. Look at Neil mackellows video from breakaway. He shows all the casting techniques used in competition/surf.