Around here the "surprise" fish can be anything from a 3" greenie to a monster carp or a full sized muskie. My defense is a careful setting of the drag on my spinning reel. That and balance between the rod, the reel and the line weight. I would rather have the jig break off at the knot that break a rod. I want protection against the first surge of an overweight fish. Then it is living on the drag and the patience to work the larger hookups. It has been a long time since I broke an ultralight 5' rod on any fish that includes a couple of muskies just under 40" landed without a net and some very large carp landed with a net all on 4# line. I use the best line I can afford which in my mind is GAMMA, but I want to be balanced well enough between it, the rod, and the reel's drag so that the line fails first. I don't fish expensive rods either, but I prefer not to break any of them; so I don't oversize the line. The most commonly overlooked part of that is a reel with a very smooth drag and line that plays on and off the spool smoothly.