which penn?

[alantani]

Hello Alan,

I was recently referred to contact you by a member on BD.  I've been on a 10 year hiatus from fishing and have recently decided to get back into it.  I have three reels that I've managed to dig up during a recent move and they'll probably be the reels that I'll end up using before investing in the newer reels.

The reels:

Penn 500 Jigmaster
Penn 555gs
Penn 113H Senator II

The senator and the gs have seen minimal use but I plan on going out on a 3/4 day or overnight trip 1-2 times a month going forward and during the summer, maybe a couple 2-3 day trips out of San Diego.  This being said, I've been told that the drag washers should be replaced with carbontex washers and that I should upgrade to a steel gear sleeve on the jigmaster.  I've also been told that I should look into having the handles on my reels replaced.  These are all procedures that I'm not too experienced in performing.

I'm messaging you for two reasons...
1)  To seek your advice on what I should use each of the reels for (ie what line test, recommended rod pairings: brand, size, and weight recommendations, and any modifications I should make to the reels)
&
2)  To try and get an idea of how much I'm looking at spending and if it would actually be worth it to keep the reels or if I should go out and just purchase new ones!

I am looking forward to hearing your advice and thank  you in advance!

[alantani]

first take a look at the rebuild posts.  

jigmaster - http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=20.0

penn 555 - http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=744.0

4/0 senator - http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=208.0

for the "couple of day" trips that you are talking about, straight mono would be fine. you don't need to spend several hundred dollars on spectra.   you are looking at fish in a 10-40 pound range.   how about straight 20# mono, straight 30# and straight 40#.  you can set the drags to 30% of the line weight.  at these lighter settings, stainless steel drive shafts (gear sleeves) are nice but not necessary.  for a longer trip, you could rig these reels with 30, 40 and 50# mono and still set the drags to 30%.  larger handle grips are always nice, change out the hard fiber washer under the main gear for a carbon fiber drag washer. grease all the drag washers with cal's grease, clean all the bearings and bushings, clean the inside of the pinion gear and lube everything with tsi 301.  let's try this for now before you go spend a thousand dollars on a set of two speeds!