Penn 109MFT ???????????????

[Penn Chronology]

Has anyone ever seen a Penn 109MFT? I have been asking around and have also done a Post on Orca about it.

http://orca-online.org/reel-talk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16186

It is not the every day happening for me to see a 1950's Penn model that I have never run into. I have spent so much time with my head in those old catalogs, that a model like this comes out of the mist and throws me.



This board has more Penn Fans than any other I have ever been to, so maybe one of the members here has run into this model. If not, I will simply have to call it very odd.

[txangler81]

That is very unusual with the counterbalanced handle from the factory and I love the greenish blue sideplates

[Penn Chronology]

That is very unusual with the counterbalanced handle from the factory and I love the greenish blue sideplates

                      It is the counterbalanced torpedo handle that is odd. It has never been mentioned in any Penn catalog. The color of the side plates is a 1955 / 56 model year color only, so the green colored level wind monofils are limited production in the grand scheme of the years the model was made. Most were black or maroon.

[Shark Hunter]

That just goes to show Mike, When you dedicate yourself to older penn reels, there is always something that is going to throw you a curve. I would really like to know someone who worked at the penn factory back in the day. I think it would really give some clarity to your cause and shed some light when you don't understand something that was made there.
My Grandpa is 88 and he is still pretty much self sufficient. Just bought himself a new jeep. Drives daily and makes appointments. I can only hope to be in his shape if I reach that age. It gives me strength when I see him. He is also a WW2 Veteran. He was actually there in the Battle of the Bulge!

[foakes]

Hi Mike --

What are you thinking the MFT denotes?

Metal spool -- Freshwater -- Torpedo handle?

Or?

Best,

Fred

[Penn Chronology]

That just goes to show Mike, When you dedicate yourself to older penn reels, there is always something that is going to throw you a curve. I would really like to know someone who worked at the penn factory back in the day. I think it would really give some clarity to your cause and shed some light when you don't understand something that was made there.
My Grandpa is 88 and he is still pretty much self sufficient. Just bought himself a new jeep. Drives daily and makes appointments. I can only hope to be in his shape if I reach that age. It gives me strength when I see him. He is also a WW2 Veteran. He was actually there in the Battle of the Bulge!

The years that I have been into basically end around 1957, so those old timers would all be gone from the business by now. I have made contact with some of the management but not from the early years. Penn was a family operation until about 2003. I have not had contact with the family and was told by the current owners of Penn (Pure Fishing), that any release I have is a legal release to write about the product but not the family. I was kind of hoping the publication of my book might cause the family to contact me but they have not. Who knows what the future will bring.
            You are correct about the product always throwing you a curve. Ever since I got started in the study of the product history there has been one constant. That constant is "Inconsistency". As soon as I think I have down pat, something comes up to prove me wrong.
            It was good to hear about your 88 year old grandfather. There are not many WW II vets around anymore. My father was a disabled WW II vet. His time in the Army was from 1936 to 1945. He was in the First Armor Division from 1942 to 1945. He had 360 actual battle days in all the campaigns in North Africa and then went on to all the battles in Italy, badly wounded in Northern Italy near the end of the war. He spent a long time in a Army hospital but made it home and lived to be 88 years old. He died in 2005 in a VA Hospital. I am a Cold War vet, I was in the USAF from 1970 to 1974. I spent some time supporting the Viet Nam war by doing aircraft overhaul in the States and then spent a couple of years in Germany, occasionally going to Berlin to yell at Russian soldiers on the other side of the wall, the rest of time I spent flying all over Europe with a bunch of pilots and dozen F4 Phantoms playing war games in the sky while I worked on the aircraft when they returned to the ramp. My military service was a cake walk when compared to a WW II vet.

Now I work at JFK International Airport for American Airlines, take care of my family and play with fishing reels.

[Penn Chronology]

Hi Mike --

What are you thinking the MFT denotes?

Metal spool -- Freshwater -- Torpedo handle?

Or?

Best,

Fred

You are correct. "M"etal Spool---"F"reshwater Stand---"T"orpedo Handle,,, the odd letter is the """T""". This reel, built this way, is not supposed to officially exist but it does. That is the curve ball.

[sundancer]

Gentlemen,

Good morning, sorry to revive an old post.

I just picked up an old 109 that seems to be in good condition.  Can't wait for it to arrive.

With discussions about 9's, etc., not being the best casters due to the Lever Wind mechanism, I cannot imagine what it would be like with the 109 Handle being engaged and having to deal with all of that rotating mechanism, but I will see, soon.  I mention casting the 109 because in doing some reseach, after-the-fact, there was talk about using it for casting.

From another post where I made assumptions (wrong) about Reel strength based on assigned Line Test I will be spooling it up with more than the 15# Line that the Spec's mention..  ;-)

So, on to find an 'olde skool' Rod in the 25# class and try to find something that will test it. 

More importantly than these silly Reels - Gentlemen, thank you for your service.  This can never be said enough. 

Steve

[Penn Chronology]

The 109 is the original Penn level wind reel, introduced pre-war in 1942. The first model had a cast control knob on the head plate, after the war, the other level winds were phased in over a period of ten years or so. I feel that the 109 was intended to be a heavy duty freshwater reel. It was never as popular as the reels that followed it.

[sundancer]

Well....

Got it.  What a little gem.  And interesting.  In the Drag mode, Handle doesn't turn.  In free spool, it does - locked to the Spool, in both directions. 

As suggested in a separate note, 'they' used their thumbs to control line payout while counting the Handle rotations to gauge depth.

I honestly didn't think I would like it enough to use it.  Well that has changed.  Now it will be a toss up to either use it or put it on a shelf to display. 

Thanks
Steve