US113N broke on big fish (what happened)

[Ak1200]

Thanks for all the replies (my apologies if I posted this question to the wrong forum).  After reading everyones theories I rechecked everything and I think somehow the left side bearing adjustment must have either not been tightened properly after servicing or i accidentally loosened it.  Either way I think this led to the rounding of the spool slot. I feel like an idiot and unfortunately I learned an expensive lesson. 

[oldmanjoe]

How bad does the pinion look ?    I would try some needle file work , nothing to loose ..

[JasonGotaProblem]

Yeah isn't it just a pinion gear to replace?

[steelfish]

Yeah isn't it just a pinion gear to replace?

what is probably ruined (not 100% positive) is the spool slot which connects to the pinion gear, check the OP pictures.


before looking to replace the spool (which is kind of expensive) I would try to file the spool slot damage and try it out again with the left bearing correctly adjusted.

[Ak1200]

Yes I will absolutely try that first

[Squidder Bidder]

Maybe switch to a lever drag so you don't have to go from freespool to full with nothing in between!

I'm not an experienced grouper angler (unless you count the misnamed black seabass here in the NE), but I think you generally want the drag locked down at hookup to horse the fish out of its rocks/reefs/wrecks/holes where it will break you off easily. The first phase of the fight is won when the fish is in free water away from structure, at which point you can ease off the drag to give you a greater margin of error and in order to tire the fish out and land it.

[Cortez_Conversions]

I never own a 113n but I fish my friend's before when we hunted for amberjack and other fish. It is a good reel but I noticed a difference between the penn oem and Tom's Cortez Conversions. I never locked down my drag on a reel. It always can lead to reel failure and a lost fish. Drag force tends to increase with increased reel heat by simple expansion of the related drag parts. The expanding parts have nowhere to go and therefore exert greater forces on another part of the reel.
My friend eventually bought Tom's Cortez Conversions 113hn/US 113 bridge that addresses those issues. He has compliments for Tom and all the great contributions by others here.

Yeah, those factory "floating double dogs" were an issue.

As were the posts that were not up to the stresses —- and would tear out of the bridge plate.

Tom's aftermarket drop-in assembly makes this one of the most capable reels in the world.  Both for the Baja & the US Senator.

Best, Fred

Pretty sure his name is Tom, not Ted.

Before you reassemble and call this reel good, take a look at the dogs and posts. The bridge you show in the pics is one of Penn's first generation bridges that goes back to the 113HN Baja Special days. You can see how minimally peened the dog posts are. These were the first ones to start to bow out with pressure. If they are even a little bowed, it puts uneven pressure on the cast dogs and they start to chip and break down. Even if you don't go with one of my upgraded bridges, IMHO it would be in your best interest to order a new bridge from Mystic. The new bridges have a much heavier peen on the dog posts.

[jurelometer]

Maybe switch to a lever drag so you don't have to go from freespool to full with nothing in between!

I'm not an experienced grouper angler (unless you count the misnamed black seabass here in the NE), but I think you generally want the drag locked down at hookup to horse the fish out of its rocks/reefs/wrecks/holes where it will break you off easily. The first phase of the fight is won when the fish is in free water away from structure, at which point you can ease off the drag to give you a greater margin of error and in order to tire the fish out and land it.

Both work fine for me.  The lever goes from free spool to "full" drag nearly as fast, and is less likely to break something when engaging at higher settings. I prefer a star drag for jigging, as it is less work to go in and our of freespool.  Levers are nice for live baiting with a circle hook as there is no sudden jerk that can pull the bait (and hook) free.  When fishing for larger units, I  prefer a two speed lever drag.  A low gear ratio in that first phase is a big benefit.

There seems to be a belief among some vertical jiggers that a lever drag is a more premium reel, but if you are fishing under 20 lbs of drag, there are plenty of star drag reels out there that are up to the task.  And plenty of lever drags that are not.

-J

[oldmanjoe]

I never own a 113n but I fish my friend's before when we hunted for amberjack and other fish. It is a good reel but I noticed a difference between the penn oem and Tom's Cortez Conversions. I never locked down my drag on a reel. It always can lead to reel failure and a lost fish. Drag force tends to increase with increased reel heat by simple expansion of the related drag parts. The expanding parts have nowhere to go and therefore exert greater forces on another part of the reel.
My friend eventually bought Tom's Cortez Conversions 113hn/US 113 bridge that addresses those issues. He has compliments for Tom and all the great contributions by others here.

Yeah, those factory "floating double dogs" were an issue.

As were the posts that were not up to the stresses —- and would tear out of the bridge plate.

Tom's aftermarket drop-in assembly makes this one of the most capable reels in the world.  Both for the Baja & the US Senator.

Best, Fred

Pretty sure his name is Tom, not Ted.

Before you reassemble and call this reel good, take a look at the dogs and posts. The bridge you show in the pics is one of Penn's first generation bridges that goes back to the 113HN Baja Special days. You can see how minimally peened the dog posts are. These were the first ones to start to bow out with pressure. If they are even a little bowed, it puts uneven pressure on the cast dogs and they start to chip and break down. Even if you don't go with one of my upgraded bridges, IMHO it would be in your best interest to order a new bridge from Mystic. The new bridges have a much heavier peen on the dog posts.

Just to be clear , AK did not post a picture of his bridge . That picture I stole from Allen`s post .
  Just trying to avoid any confusion !!! 

[Squidder Bidder]

Maybe switch to a lever drag so you don't have to go from freespool to full with nothing in between!

I'm not an experienced grouper angler (unless you count the misnamed black seabass here in the NE), but I think you generally want the drag locked down at hookup to horse the fish out of its rocks/reefs/wrecks/holes where it will break you off easily. The first phase of the fight is won when the fish is in free water away from structure, at which point you can ease off the drag to give you a greater margin of error and in order to tire the fish out and land it.

Both work fine for me.  The lever goes from free spool to "full" drag nearly as fast, and is less likely to break something when engaging at higher settings. I prefer a star drag for jigging, as it is less work to go in and our of freespool.  Levers are nice for live baiting with a circle hook as there is no sudden jerk that can pull the bait (and hook) free.  When fishing for larger units, I  prefer a two speed lever drag.  A low gear ratio in that first phase is a big benefit.

There seems to be a belief among some vertical jiggers that a lever drag is a more premium reel, but if you are fishing under 20 lbs of drag, there are plenty of star drag reels out there that are up to the task.  And plenty of lever drags that are not.

-J

These are all good points - particularly how much more robust lever drags are with higher drags.

My comment was more geared to the aspect of the preceding comment which asked "why can't you use a more gradual drag adjustment like with a lever drag?" The answer is, as you state, that you can - but in that case you would tighten the drag all the way down anyway at hookup. I use a small lever drag when Tautog fishing over structure - but I make sure to sunset the drag lever when the rig hits bottom. A 'Tog of any size will get right back in structure when hooked and you need to turn that head right upon hookset.

[jurelometer]

We are veering a bit more off topic here (I am one of the guilty parties ), but I think that Mark was noting that lever drags will ramp up from freespool to wherever you stop the lever, which is a nice way to go from freespool when feeding a large moving fish a live bait. And sometimes you want to to start with a bit lower drag, for example a speeding yellowfin taking the bait right next to the rail.

One of the main advantages of a lever drag is not taken advantage of if you already have the reel in gear when the fish is hooked. Not sure that I would put that style of tautog fishing in the category  where you are functionally better off using a lever drag.

But we all get to chose our own gear based on our own preferences. The Baja Special/US Senator is an attempt to beef up a standard star drag reel for folk that prefer star drags in situations where a good argument could be made that a lever drag would be most advantageous. Same idea, other direction.

My favorite tuna reel is a fly reel, which has to be the least optimal reel type of all for that type of fishing

-J