As Brandon said, SA anglers have been using overheads for years for popping/spinning in the surf zones... This is usually using 12 to 14 ft rods, and skipping type plugs like chisel nose and long pencil poppers.... They also use mono, usually 0.55mm and are casting 100 to 140 metres in surf zones where the loooong casts are required...
Even with the introduction of top end spinning reels, Saffas being Saffa's, the heard headed bunch we are, still for the most part use overheads ( Daiwa SL30, SL 50, Trindads etc ) for spinning in the surf zones... this is also due mainly to the prohibitive costs of quality spinning reels here, and until recently the lack of quality popping rods..
With practise, and most of these guys have years of it, using an overhead is defintely feasible... but only when using skipping plugs as one can't really "pop" with a overhead, you can just crank really...
Another issue is line lay... you have to be sure you keep winding the line on properly to avoid bunch ups.... so you are often watching the spool and miss the beauty of a surface strike, one of the greatest moments in surface fishing...
Also the need for alot of space to cast an overhead, and the difficulty of casting lighter baits into the wind, for me, takes Overheads out of game for me....
Add to that the likelyhood of "Buck-fever" just when you need to make a good cast, when you see some GT's, you might well end up like this:
No fun in my books....
As to casting with Lever Drags... Avet claims good casting abilities with some of their reels, and I used to surf cast with a Shimmy TLD 15, but in copmarison with star drag reels like Trini's, Torium's and Saltists and Saltiga, they have a long way to go.....
