New Member Questions on Penn Senator 16/0

Started by cstaller, August 12, 2018, 05:19:58 AM

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Tightlines667

#15
Sal,
That's a good point taller/narrower is stronger, more powerful, especially when paired with a longer handle.  

Cstaller,

Seems like the larger Senators, of which I am a fan, are one of the prefered tools for sharking from shore.  I think folks prefer more capacity, so they can fish straight mono here, which is a bit more forgiving in terms of stretch and abrasion resistance, and short term cost.  The large Senators will handle just about any fish out there.  However, personally I think anything over a 9/0 becomes a bit cumbersome in long standup battles.  

The star drags are favored due to their simplsity and easy of maintainance as well as being more cost effective, and the nestalgic factor.  They are good, reliable options when fishing in the sand and surf.

However, IMHO the 2-speed lever drag reels offer considerably more performance.  They have higher drags, more refined drag curves, deal with heat better, and offer the ability to gain considerable cranking power advantages in low gear, and usually faster retrival rates in high speed.  In my experience, I can land 100lb+class yellowfin tuna in about 1/4-1/3 as much time on 130lever drags(15-20mins), verses hot-rodded 16/0 senators (45-60mins).  Smaller 2-speed lever drags can still produce good cranking power/line retrival, with adequete capacity (if fishing spectra), in a more compact/lighter weight package better suited to standup.  They do not react as well to saltwater/sand/dirt intrusion, and are more complicated/costly/time consuming to service.  The bearings and clicker parts often need replacing.  

Given this, I think for your needs a 10/0-16/0 senator may be the way to go initially.  You can always switch to a lever drag if your not happy with the performance down the road, just realize there are advantages to keeping it simple, and if you want more performance you will have to be more vigalent about keeping sand out of the reel, and servicing more frequently.

Just a few thoughts.

John
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

Alto Mare

I hear you John, but I wasn't comparing the 16/0 to the lever drag two speed reels. I was just trying to keep it within the title of this thread, which we are pulling away from anyway :).

Sal
Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.

oc1

See there.  It pays to be obstinate with Sal because you learn a lot of good stuff.  I'm sure John is correct too but lever drags are over my head, much less two speeds.  Good luck with it Curt and thank you.
-steve

cstaller

Thanks for all the replies, I let both 16/0s go on ebay the 1st went for 690, which is a lot.  I've decided to start with a 14/0 and a 12/0 which I'll gear up over the next few months.  Perhaps I'll add the  16/0 down the road so I can be the most ridiculous guy on the beach.  I also have my surf rod set ups 12 & 13ft rods 8/9oz with penn 6500 spinners that I've had forever.  I'll just up the braid lb a bit and should be ok for 150 yards or so.  Mostly been fishing for other stuff on those but usually end up catching a shark or two anyway even with just 30lb braid.

Next time out Kayak will be in the tool kit too!  I had just come back from a month of beaching it in PCB, FL and got the bug for it again...Probably hit it again in Nov Texas somewhere probably PINS.