a couple of thoughts
you can knock a few feet off the front of the line, Ted, but I think if you focus on getting a good load into the rod by throwing a nice, lively D Loop and then coming forward with smooth acceleration and a good, positive *stop* at the end of your casting stroke the XLT should turn over nicely for you. Often with long belly or extended belly lines like the XLT the temptation is to really throw yourself into the cast and this can actually lead to a loss of efficiency and power. That good hard stop will make a world of difference. Shorten up, stop the rod "hard and high", get it rolling over nicely for you, then keep your technique solid and slowly add a few feet of line to the cast until you have it nailed.