525 Mag

[thorhammer]

525 Mag that took a dunk at OBX during the nor'easter. Pleasantly surprised with very minimal water intrusion and only a little sand in the spool. Lubed the bearings and drags while I was there anyway; got another 20-30 yards in the test pond. 

[MarkT]

Still my favorite 20# reel. Dump that stock handle and bolt on a Torque handle and you'll be set.

My 525 mag has the old round drags rather than the eared gears/drag washers.

[alantani]

don't overtighten the side plate screws.   you can actually deform the frame a little and lose freespool.

[thorhammer]

Agree on handle; and IS my favorite drum reel.


Alan, noted! I only "snug" on graphite reels in any case, working opposite sides gradually like a tire. I'm going back in this winter and pull the shields out per your tutorial.

[SoCalAngler]

If you want Penn's part number for the Torque handle you can get it here. Mark found this mod when I posted it on another fishing board but I posted it here first to give the AT members the first look.

The old pics blew up some how and I don't have them saved here so sorry for their size in this thread.

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=3997.0

[thorhammer]

Thanks, I was about to ask for it! I also grabbed two straight 525's and am considering magging but want to throw them stock first just to see, I throw 535 and 545 well as is. Any thoughts?

[SoCalAngler]

Well, to tell you the truth I don't use the mag on my 525. I back it all the way off and use thumb control. That was the way I was taught as a boy with reels that didn't have a mag and in the middle of a hot bite I may just grab a setup that I think can handle the size of fish and cast one out. Now if I have a mag on some reels and not on others then I have to remember which reels to use my thumb on and which ones not to. So for this reason I don't use the control.

It's kind of like sometimes I use circle hooks on some setups and others I use J hooks. My solution is to never swing on a fish to set a hook anymore. My hookup rate seems to be the same without swinging on J hooks so now I don't have to remember which hooks I have on what setups.

[Alto Mare]

Well, to tell you the truth I don't use the mag on my 525. I back it all the way off and use thumb control. That was the way I was taught as a boy with reels that didn't have a mag and in the middle of a hot bite I may just grab a setup that I think can handle the size of fish and cast one out. Now if I have a mag on some reels and not on others then I have to remember which reels to use my thumb on and which ones not to. So for this reason I don't use the control.

It's kind of like sometimes I use circle hooks on some setups and others I use J hooks. My solution is to never swing on a fish to set a hook anymore. My hookup rate seems to be the same without swinging on J hooks so now I don't have to remember which hooks I have on what setups.

I wasn't aware you didn't have to set a J-hook, Maybe related to the type of fish.
I know if I let go of the tension for just a couple of seconds while a fluke happens to be on the other end, it will spit the hook back on the boat.

[SoCalAngler]

Well, to tell you the truth I don't use the mag on my 525. I back it all the way off and use thumb control. That was the way I was taught as a boy with reels that didn't have a mag and in the middle of a hot bite I may just grab a setup that I think can handle the size of fish and cast one out. Now if I have a mag on some reels and not on others then I have to remember which reels to use my thumb on and which ones not to. So for this reason I don't use the control.

It's kind of like sometimes I use circle hooks on some setups and others I use J hooks. My solution is to never swing on a fish to set a hook anymore. My hookup rate seems to be the same without swinging on J hooks so now I don't have to remember which hooks I have on what setups.

I wasn't aware you didn't have to set a J-hook, Maybe related to the type of fish.
I know if I let go of the tension for just a couple of seconds while a fluke happens to be on the other end, it will spit the hook back on the boat.

I went over why I don't swing on fish anymore here. If you would like to discuss this more we should open up another thread.

http://alantani.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=siugj5h0835gkdqe21t4buk474&topic=5482.0

Also I'm not saying I ever let the line go slack or don't have tension on it I just don't swing to set a hook.

[Alto Mare]

You are right Mark, I forgot there was a discussion already.

Sal