tom hryniuk's 146 squidder frames and side plates

[alantani]

tom hryniuk's 146 squidder frames and side plates - being in this business, i've met some pretty extraordinary people.  tom hryniuk is one of them.  he's a machinist.  look at what he made!!!!!!



















i think he made up a dozen or so.  very impressive stuff, and for sale.  send him an e-mail it you're interested in buying one.  his email address is tomhryniuk@hotmail.com.  part of the reason for posting this stuff is to show you what a guy can do in a machine shop with a little spare time.  i know there are more of you out there.  get to work and let's see what you can do!!!!!  alan

[alantani]

tom came by the house today and we yakked for a while. he already has a jigmaster prototype. that gives him two reels in production. the next project will be a topless frame for a shimano charter special 1000 and 2000. i've put in an order for 50 of each. a topless frame and side plate combination for a penn 320 gti may also be in the works for 2009. on a power to weight ratio, the 320 gti is one of the most powerful reels on the market. by then, i will have a stainless steel gear sleeve for the penn 113h/320gti. this will be fun! alan

[alantani]

Now that is a beautiful Squidder.

Well, I have to agree with that statement.

My 146 with Accurate frame and side plates and Newell aluminum spool was my favorite albacore reel for three seasons. It took many, MANY fish of several species .....

BUT (you knew that was gonna be said, right?) ...... eventually I gave it up for one reason.

It STILL had the same internal parts, same drag capacity, same gears as a STOCK unit.

THAT seems to be my only possible reluctance in putting something like this set up to use for me.

It's CERTAINLY a drastic improvement on the stock Penn original, especially if there are no more line in the spool gap issues.

On the other hand, it still has the same bridge, gears, eccentric jack, pinion yoke, drag surface area as the Penn original, but with "lipstick", no matter how it does look (and it DOES look exceedingly good!).

The finished Hryniuk's 146 Squidder frames and side plates has all the outside appearance of a salt water reel that you could use 65 lb spectra and a top shot of 50lb mono on, but with those same internals and drag capacity, would or could you??

Note here, my comment is not meant to discredit this really FINE work piece in any way, but as I compare it to the revamped internals, including the now double dogged safety and increased gears, of the Penn 113HN, I have to say that the 113HN "went all the way" with improving on the original where this obviously beautiful rendition might not.

OR did I obviously miss something, Alan???

ON the OTHER hand ...... where can I get one of those clamps at???

some days, i feel like a crack dealer.  "hey, little boy, would you like some candy?"  dangling stuff like this in front of your nose, you start to think, why is my heart rate increasing, how bad is my blood pressure, why am i sweating all of a sudden?  it's not rational.  never will be. 

so it's a squidder.  it's got a slow retrieve.  it has small drags.  it spins pretty well.  it's light.  and it's like nothing you've ever seen before.  TQ, this guy is amazing!  oh, the disclaimer.  i'm not getting a kickback of any kind.  i don't work that way, but you probably figured that out already.  it's just that his work is so incredibly cool.  you should meet the guy sometime.  he is a true artist.  he is proud of his work, and rightly so.  and it is guys like him that make this country great.  i'll tell you later about his other projects........

[alantani]

Me and harold didn't launch until about 10AM. Water was the opposite of what it was yesterday. Someone must've hit the damn fan switch again.  This is how it was when we launched.



Brought out the Tom Hryniuk special today to change up on the mojo.



We began to move in to find calmer water. Then I picked up a 27 incher.

[alantani]

here's a photo of tom hrynuik in baja with a prototype 146.

[ccalls]

Has Tom ever made the 320 GTI, Jigmaster 500 frames and side plates for sale?

[alantani]

tom has the narrow spool 501, but not the 320 gti.  look for him here under the name cortez conversions.

[day0ne]

I saw one of these on ebay tonight. Supposedly a 500 conversion but it could have been a 99 size. Claimed it had 500 gears in it and the left endplate was different from the squidder shown here. nice looking reel. Some guy from FL was selling it and didn't know much about it

[alantani]

he has a "500" version out there......

[day0ne]

One will be in TX soon

[Cortez_Conversions]

Imagine my surprise to be surfing Ebay and finding one of own reels!
It was a 500 Jigmaster, one of maybe a half dozen that I made.
Right now, I still have only the 146 Squidder, with 3 or 4 other reels in the wings.
All my reel stuff has taken a back seat, as I started a new job that dosen't give me the time
to tinker!

[Bryan Young]

I was looking for it, and looking and looking. 

[day0ne]

I was looking for it, and looking and looking. 

I'm enjoying it. I'm impressed with it. Great reel. I was suprised to find a steel main gear in it. I did put a s.s. gear sleeve in it and added an Accurate handle.

[Cortez_Conversions]

Good for you,
I hope you continue to enjoy it!

[sinkerswim]

Imagine my surprise to be surfing Ebay and finding one of own reels!
It was a 500 Jigmaster, one of maybe a half dozen that I made.
Right now, I still have only the 146 Squidder, with 3 or 4 other reels in the wings.
All my reel stuff has taken a back seat, as I started a new job that dosen't give me the time
to tinker!

Got me one of those Tom Hyrniuk 146 conversion kits and really glad I did. Precision machining. Threw on an Alan Tani stainless gear sleeve and couldn't be happier. Truly a one of a kind, that will be around long after I've gone. The money was well spent and is actually very comporable to the full accurate or accuplate conversions. Tom's new job will certainly be the fishing reel man's loss. This guy has talent squared!