Reel and Line Advice

I am fairly new to surf fishing... I caught about 5 pompano, some sting rays and a shark last July and had a blast. I had some lousy gear so I am investing in some good stuff this year. I bought a Stradic CI4 with a duckett medium heavy 6'6" rod (Yes I know it is overkill, but my wife got it for me for Christmas. I plan on using this for my smaller rig and maybe jigging and throwing some spoons closer in. Should I put power braid on this or just a good mono? For my heavier rig I am considering a Penn Fierce 8000 with like a 10' rod. This for heavier and further casting. Any opinions? And if I get this rig what should I line it with? This will be used for surf fishing so I can chill with the fam while I fish.

Thanks in Advance!

Well it all depends on what you are really after. I use a lighter setup than most for my heavy surf rod. 10 1/2' 12-25 medium. I use 14# test on that one. The thing to keep in mind is that on a longer surf style rod it takes a lot more to break the line as thr rod takes most of its strain over a longer length.
I also take a 6 -10 llb setup for throwing plugs and jigs. For spinners braid is great, for casting reels it depends on the reel.