Newbie from Seattle Area

[seaeagle2]

I stumbled onto this site a few years ago when my father in law gave me his Penn 65's from his fishing days in the 70's.  I installed new smoooth drags in them with the help of this site, but they just sit on the shelf.  Now I'm doing a little halibut fishing up here.  I am using Penn 320 GTI's, but I think it's a bit much for them so I'm going to try a 113H.  If I like it, then I'll use the 320's for salmon and pick up some more 113H's.  My son is playing football at Chabot College so we get down to the Bay area some,  I'm trying to find out the scoop of California Halibut fishing.

[alantani]

welcome, i'm glad you made it in. i've been mulling over the possibility of shutting down new members for a while, just long enough to make all these russian spammers go away. 

anyway, san francisco bay is where most of the guys fish for halibut.  it's not something i usually do, but the fishery has made quite a comeback in recent years.  live bait is always a favorite.  guys will also drag hoochies and flashers in combination, or rapalas, or just drift dead bait.  pretty simple, actually. we're talking 50 feet or less.   

[kamuwela]

aloha and welcome aboard

[Nessie Hunter]

Warmest of Welcomes to ya... 

Kick off your shoes and have some fun....   

[Roger]

Welcome aboard.......

[Hadge]

Welcome from Seattle.
The penn 320s are good all around salmon reels here on lake michigan.
Hadge

[Bryan Young]

You really need to maintain the GTi series reels if used in salt water.  I've recently worked on 20 320s and 321s, and many of them have issues if you don't do a pre-use treatment.  First and foremost, bearings.  Treat with CorrosionX or pack with grease.  The non-drive side bearings are in there so tight, you may only be able to just add a couple of drops of CorrosionX.  The drive side bearing are peened in.  I remove one shield and pack them with grease.  You may not be able to get the shield back in, but that's okay if they are packed with grease.  Then apply corrosionX on the spool shaft.  A lot of pinion gears rust onto the spool shaft even though both spool shaft and pinion gear are made of stainless steel.

If you do this as soon as you can, and if possible, before use, these reels will last much longer with less issues.

[Hadge]

Yah, Bryan I agree with the saltwater issues with the 320s. when I use mind in the Florida Keys I remove the level wind to have one less moving part.
But in fresh water like lake Michigan their tough little reels.

Being I fish both salt and fresh water I don't know if I'm coming ,going or haven't even left yet.



Hadge

[seaeagle2]

 

If you do this as soon as you can, and if possible, before use, these reels will last much longer with less issues.

I got them off ebay about 3 seasons ago, and have used them about 3 days a season.  I'm a little hazy on "treating with corrosion x".  So I disassemble the reel so I can get at the bearings.  Just drop some corrosion x into the non drive side bearing cause I'm not going to be able to get it out.  Then the other bearing I can get out and pry the sheild off it.  Do I clean this bearing with something, (if so what) then use grease and because it's greased I don't need the shield back  on it. 

[Bryan Young]

If the bearing is still good, I open up one side of the bearing and force marine grease in the bearing and leave the shield off because most cases, I am unable to get the shield out without damaging it.

Greasing the bearing?  I just force new grease in...before was the old fashion way of finger press, now it's the bearing packer.  I rarely clean out bearings that I will be greasing.

[wallacewt]

white spirits works well.drill bit that fits nice and firm in the bearing,put in reverse, hold in w/spirits,vroom,5seconds its clean.hold bearing in fingers,vroom,its dry,add a drop of whatever oil you prefer,spin with the fingers,no vroom,all done.  

[Norcal Pescador]

Welcome Seaeagle! Greetings from Northern California. You'll end up being hooked on this stuff in no time.
Rob