i loooove mine. (spinning) i've managed to do a little bit of everything with it. i've tossed as little an oz and as much as 8 with it. (4oz + half a pogie
) using braid, the sweet spot is 3-4. and it launches 2's pretty well. after 4 or 5ish, it starts giving way a little and you gotta take something off the cast. if you throw on a nice long shock leader how ever it loads much better in the 4-5 range. actually right now i have mono on it and its loading great at all ranges down to about 2. haven't gotten anything huge on it. but it handles nice with a fish on. and it can fight a rock like you wouldn't believe. i abuse the hell out of it. (like the rest of my gear) and so far no problems.
the only area it struggles is working pencil poppers. not soft enough. other than that, it does everything good. not great but good. while friends have a couple different rods for different things. i can just use this for everything.
i've never fished the canal though, so i have no idea how it would hold up in there.