i just finished this saltist 30T the day before yesterday. it got 22 pounds of drag with carbontex drag washer and shimano drag grease. i have a little be more to go, so i'm sure i could have gotten 25 pounds, but the reel was starting to creak a little. a 15 to 20 pound drag setting would be easy. so a combination of 65 pound spectra, a 50 pound topshot and a 30% (15 pound) drag setting would be pretty easy.
on a 10 day trip 2 years ago, i used a loaner saltiga 30T with 50 pound spectra, a 40 pound topshot and 15 pounds of drag. it was heaven being able to cast with such a small reel. the sardines we had on that trip were pretty bad. they were all small and i could not cast them with my bigger reels.