Another day of testing and I discovered another winning combo .
My 5’6” 13 Fishing Omen Ultralight rod paired with a KastKing Zephyr SFS 1000 reel at 66’ , with four casts at 60+ feet .
Seems to be a common denominator in these combos and it’s the KastKing Zephyr reel . At 5.3oz , it’s not as light as the Kestrel, but it’s still a lightweight.
Something about the spool design is allowing me to get cast farther.
Looks like for the most part 5’ 6” rods rule too.