Preparing to fish the 16/0

[The Great Maudu]

I am going to Florida in a couple weeks to fish vintage tackle. I'm taking along, for the first time, a 16/0 Senator and a vintage rod that is so massive it could handle anything catchable in the sea. I took the reel to the Shark Hunter so he could work his magic on the drags and put some new line on it. Going to his abode is like going to Disney World for me. There is always something amazing to see. It could be the biggest reel made, one of a kind custom big game reels and rods or the herd of Penn reels. But today might have been the topper. Today he showed me his garage .... it's not my place to tell, but what I saw truly stunned me. I doubt I'll ever see another one. Anyway here's a few pics of the big rig.

[Cortez_Conversions]

Nice rig!

[Bill B]

Dude you gonna be rollin' OG (Original Gangster) style with that rig  .....Bill

[David Hall]

You're loaded for Bear now!

[Cor]

Enjoy Mike.  Hope you been doing some strength training to handle whatever you're going to pull on that rod

[Benni3]

Really nice gear,,,,what line are you using 

[Alto Mare]

Nice combo Mike...good luck!

Sal

[Tightlines667]

I like the idea of fishing with that big classic gear.  I considered spooling up my OC Panama and mounting it on an old Harnell and drag baits with dacron backing for a few hours. 

Good Luck!

John

[The Great Maudu]

I'm going to use this rig for shark fishing from the pier. It's going to be spooied with 1100 yards of 100 lbs mono with another 1000 yards of 200 lbs braid. The kayaker takes the bait out 400 - 500 yards beyond the end of the pier near a man made reef. I see this rig every night and every morning as it sits in my bedroom and I wonder what it would be like to fish with something like that. So I decided to find out. I know it's going to be heavy but at least on the pier I can roll it around on a cart. Tomorrow I'm going to disassemble, clean and lube all the rollers. Daron was gracious enough to check out the drags and put some line on.

[oc1]

So you're the one, Mike    I was bashing your choice of line somewhere here and still think 200# mono would be better.  Especially if you are going to drop near an obstruction.  No offense.  Is that a 54 thread Harnell?.  Can't see the blank. Nice mildrums too. 
-steve

[fishgrain]

interacting with the tackle (does that mean i need therapy?) is a big part of the fun for me

if so sign me up,

Jay

[otownjoe]

Good luck on your trip. What part of Florida are you going to be fishing.  Joe

[thorhammer]

Dang, Mike that's a lot of line! That rod looks like a Harnell, as Steve asked, I think. I have one similar that I'm refurbishing.

Good luck cant wait for report!

[The Great Maudu]

Panama City Beach. Been going to that part of Florida for years. As far as the mono vs. braid goes, the guys I fish with are a highly organized and motivated group. They are fishing about 300 nights per year for sharks. They tell me to use braid because it will give better hook ups and play on very large fish. So, when I'm in Rome and the Romans are telling me to use braid because in their experience it works best, I'm using braid. They have a complete system they have worked out from bait deployment to landing fish and everything in between. When I'm fishing from the beach I use straight mono.

[thorhammer]

Makes sense. No bar out in front of the pier to get over. I have reels spooled both ways to cover the bases.