VS 150 Limitations

[Rmarsh]

The guy I've been fishing with for the last 16 years hooked into something large a couple of nights ago that he couldn't land and it eventually broke off after over an hour of give and take. He's caught a few stripers in the 40# range in the past and said it had to be much larger than that and maybe something other than a striped bass. He usually fishes a vs 250 but when it went in for service he picked up a new 150 to add to his arsenal. I watched as he tried to turn the crank handle grasping the entire handle because trying to rotate it with just the knob was futile. I suggested he try walking it down the beach...and he gained back a lot of line doing that...then the 40# braid broke off. We speculated about what it might have been (it wasn't a lobster pot or stuck on anything). My question to vs 150 owners ...have you had similar experiences...is this reel capable of subduing something over lets say 60#?
Was considering a 150 but not so sure now.