Odd featured Penn 49

[Cuttyhunker]

Have just refinished a post war bamboo boat rod from Japan and being in pretty good shape wanted to fish it for the bragging rights before going on the wall.  Selected an old 49 from the pile, that may be pre war.  A few things seemed off, first the counterweight was smooth edged like a penny, second the bolt holes in the stand for the rod clamp are round.  The weight had been explained to me as a transitional weight moving from the coin edge to the stacked coins design.  Were the round holes a Penn thing or a Bubba with a drill?  Had some half head with no square base bolts that work fine, the half heads locked to the sides of the stand, also found some half heads with the square base too.  Managed to find a period correct slotted rod clamp to keep things in the correct circa.  Headed out this afternoon for a striper or bluefish to put all the old stuff back to work

[Crab Pot]

Very nice.

I like your choice of motors too!

Steve

[Bill B]

I've seen a few round hole seats, mostly on the older 49's.  I love seeing the old gear getting a work out.  Bill

[Cuttyhunker]

Pulled in a nice bluefish with the old 49 on the bamboo, really a stiff stick, felt like the old Penn Tuna Sticks and never any sense the the rod was being stressed.  Old girl is sleeping in the living room now, but thinking about mounting up a 50 class for the school tuna south of No Mans Land next season, that would certainly up the ante on the braggin rights.

[Deepennz]

Hi Cuttyhunker,
Good to see that #49 out there doing it!!
FYI - Penn started producing that drilled clamp stand  from mid 1940 onwards - up until then the #49 came with a plain stand that seemed prone to bending under load!
The very first, mid 1940 stands came with the drilled holes for the clamp, and also retained the yardage stamp
              200YDS No15.
This didn't last long, and by the end of 1940 until 1950 all the #49 stands were like yours, with the stronger drilled clamp.
Another observation I have with the #49's is that Penn seems to have used  all their large, coin-edged counterweights on the handles of the #49's up until late 1948/ early 1949 - contrary to all their other models, most of whom had long transitioned to the 3 stack c/w by early 1947.
In 1949 Penn finally found a style of metal spool that suited - these spools came with 6 diamonds cut into the arbor. Your photos don't show the details of the spool.
My best guess, with that transitional smooth c/wt and metal spool, is that you are catching fish with an early 1949 Penn #49. Well Done!

Cheers
Martin

[Cuttyhunker]

Martin,
I love fishing the 49's, same diameter as a 114H but faster with a 3.5 ratio.  With the larger diameter probably as fast a retrieve as the new smaller diameter 5 ratio reels. Upgraded to carbontex, and "new" reels can be had for short money.  I do have a vented spool on one of my shelfies, the fishers are 3 piece small arbor metals, dacron backing under leadcore.


Bill B
There's an updated older thread on a 130 and in the photos there are round holes in the stand for the clamp as well