I have been working on a Nep-tuna cradle rig, and finally removed the line from the Penn 49 reel. This spool was what I found. Has anyone seen a spool like this? Is it a normal spool for this reel or is it supposed to be used in some other reel? Thanks for any info.
Chris
That's the vented spool. 1950 to 1953/4. It isn't rare, but fairly uncommon because most the 49's back then had plastic spools. These spools are also found on 149's from that same era. The rare spool is the first version of the vented spool. It had same diamond cutouts on both the spool flanges as well as the arbour. An open invitation for water intrusion.
This woulda been what it looked like new in 1951
I just don't see the reasoning behind that as I have a couple and both are cracked straight across the spool .
Maybe For water Drainage or so you don't need as much line to fill it ?
I could be wrong, and mostly I am, but the vented spool was for wire line fishing to reduce the coiling. Bill
I take it this is a standard width 49.
The 49 A came about in that way, by widening the spool, which was then taken up by Penn.
More line was required to manage shore caught Tuna.
This 49 is standard size. So, this reel can be dated to 50 to 54? The rod belt I bought with the reel is probably of the same vintage.
Quote from: Bill B on July 07, 2022, 02:58:20 AMI could be wrong, and mostly I am, but the vented spool was for wire line fishing to reduce the coiling. Bill
Well now dat I tinks about it ,that makes some sense cause both the Reels I got had wire on em when I got them .
Lol, yes the label on the box says "wire Line fishing" and the boxed 49m reel I pictured also had full spool of wire Line when I bought it. The line was so perfectly spooled, it obviously had never been used.
I'd say you hit a home run on your neptuna. Great job bringing it all back to life. Like Chris already said, that neptuna fighting belt is a rare bird and elevates your neptuna to another level. Thanks for sharing !!
Edit: FYI, all 49's had plastic spools up thru 1949. 1950 was first year Penn offered a metal spool for the 49
That looks like Grandpas belt, never seen the metal gimbal cup before, his had built up hard leather cup, same triangle and belt. I'd say new with the reel or older.
I have awful memories of using wire line in the past. Narrow reels like the 49/149/349 were a boon as you didn't have to worry about line lay across the spool, but you had to use some sort of backing first to almost fill the reel before adding the wire line on top. I guess this spool design incorporates an arbour to reduce the amount of backing needed.
Now I use gelspun braids - kinder to the fingers!