TOTAL LOCKDOWN - How To Modify A Penn Senator or Daiwa Sealine Reel ???

[ez2cdave]

A couple of friends of mine in Florida, Reef / Wreck Bottom fishermen asked me how to ELIMINATE the Drag function on Penn Senator ( 113/113H/113HLW, 114/114H/114HLW, etc )  and Daiwa Sealine ( 400H, 450H, 600H, etc ) reels .

They want "Total Lockdown without ANY slippage, EVER" ( Quote from them ).

They want to either land their fish or break them off, without allowing a fish to run down into Reefs / Wrecks . . .

Rather than "speculate", I have brought the situation here, to the "Ohana" !

Thanks, in advance !

Dave F.

[steelfish]

to lock the drags on the old Senators, in Baja they use ..

[Sharkb8]

Buy more metal drag washers and weld them together 

Kim

[RowdyW]

      Good One Alex! Simple & effective.  How about welding or brazing the main gear to the gear sleeve?      Rudy

[broadway]

I've heard of Alex's method for Jewfish as well.
That's hard core fishing right there!
Make sure they use the toe rails, lol.
Best
Dom

[PacRat]

Clean the drag stack and then grease it with JB Weld. Just make sure not to get any on moving parts. It's best to do this with the gear sleeve removed from the reel.

Good luck

[Maxed Out]

 This reminds me of my logging days. Once I recall the logs we choked wouldn't budge and the yarder engineer hollered out his window "somethins' gonna break" !!

If you want no slippage, it must be a direct drive "knucklebuster" with main gear and gear sleeve as one solid piece....like Rudy said

[jurelometer]

Alex isn't joking.  Those are the standard tools for setting the drag for yellowtail with 60 lb mono on a star drag, down in Baja.  Except that the hammer and vice grip are not usually so new and shiny.

Getting back on topic: If "total lockdown, no slippage ever" means disabling the drag entirely, this falls into the "hold my beer", or "Florida man dies  after ..."  category.  

130 lb braid might hold up to about 200lbs of load if wrapped around a rock, piling, another boat's outboard shaft etc.  The reel is going to go leave the boat,  it is just a question of what kind a damage  is going to occur on the way out.  Unless the rig is clamped to the boat.  But that better be a big enough boat. A smaller center consoles with 200 lbs pulling down on a locked reel plus a couple hefty guys leaning over the rail, and that boat is going to end up updpside down.

Ther were a few smaller reels made back in the day with a spool lock switch that would prevent the spool from turning until you released the switch.  While still dangerous on  a larger reel,  there will be at least some situations where you can unlock the spool before  something terrible happens, and the drag will talk over.

While still  dangerous, a spool lock is preferable to a drag lock. If the lock is built into the drag stack,/main gear, the load will be on the dog,  The failure for the reels mentioned will probably occur as a result of the dog breaking, post detaching, or dog tip  sliding under the the pawl if the gears get pulled out of alignment.  Which means that the spool and handle will suddenly start spinning  violently backwards, probably breaking your hand before the inevitable bird's nest relocks the spool,  causing the rig and anything attached to it to go overboard.  And the last thing you want to be tangled up when  you go overboard  is strong  line anchored to the bottom, or wrapped around the skeg of an outboard of another boat speeding off.  

On the reels mentoned,  the dog failures  are probably going to occur at a load far below the line capacity, so  building in a lock doesn't  buy much. I would expect that a well-executed super hot rod drag stack could be set high enough  to blow out the dog(s).This is why the drag kit suppliers tell us that the purpose of the kits is provide smoother drag at higher settings (higher useful drag -not higher max drag).

I would suggests to your friends to upgrade  the drags,  fish within reasonable limits for the equipment, and purchase more robust equipment where needed.   What they really should be looking for is more drag range  that they can experiment with by ramping up and backing off as needed.

-J

[steelfish]

Alex isn't joking.  Those are the standard tools for setting the drag for yellowtail with 60 lb mono on a star drag, down in Baja.  Except that the hammer and vice grip are not usually so new and shiny.
-J

of course I wasnt joking, the old pangueros (commercial fishemen) told me how they did it back in the day (and many still use the same way),  to catch a big 300# grouper with just a stock 114h fill it to the brim with 300# mono line and locked down drag with the help of locking pliers or some hits with a hammer until they cannot get any line slip out from the spool and trust me, old commercial fishing captains are pretty strong guys.

it was a Mano a Mano match, man vs the Beast, Uno a Uno, tag o war, etc etc 

[ez2cdave]

To All,

Thanks for all of the replies, so far . . .

I had no knowledge to give them, so your input is really great !

Dave F.

[boon]

Fill the drag stack with metal washers only, I'd probably alternate keyed/eared for maximum strength, then drill through the entire stack in maybe 4 places and dowel/pin the whole thing together.

But now all the force has to be taken by your gear teeth, hope they're strong ones.

[Ron Jones]

Fill the drag stack with metal washers only, I'd probably alternate keyed/eared for maximum strength, then drill through the entire stack in maybe 4 places and dowel/pin the whole thing together.

But now all the force has to be taken by your gear teeth, hope they're strong ones.

That would be my best idea as well, as it is reversible. Lord have mercy you had best have a solid anti reverse system, or really good medical insurance!

The Man

[gstours]

This might be the true test of the question, "is the bridge dog system better than the sideplate"
.?    Just kidding of course.     Firstly what Is a double 🐕 🐕 anyway?
  Something has to give,  you realize your undergunned.  What is a 70$ senator against the fish of a lifetime anyway?   Especially if the fish can be sold to help pay the bills?   
   I'd love to watch and talk to these folks,   Something is going to give!🎣

[Bill B]

I got popcorn....🤣

[Ron Jones]

This might be the true test of the question, "is the bridge dog system better than the sideplate"
.?    Just kidding of course.     Firstly what Is a double 🐕 🐕 anyway?
  Something has to give,  you realize your undergunned.  What is a 70$ senator against the fish of a lifetime anyway?   Especially if the fish can be sold to help pay the bills?   
   I'd love to watch and talk to these folks,   Something is going to give!🎣

I agree, it might take a few fish, but eventually you will find one takes your whole rig, breaks it into a thousand pieces (and possibly thousands of dollars in medical bills,) or puts you in the water if your foolish enough to be tied to the thing.

I'm conflicted as which one I would want to use. A 113H would fail before a 6/0, but that might be a good thing. Could you imagine pulling on a no drag 6/0 until it tears itself apart!!!!??

The Man