Hi all, I have not posted in a while but I had a chance to overhaul a pile of Penn 500s,140s,and various long beach reels for a charter boat.it was fascinating how you can get to know them so well and repair them and you get to look at all the variations up close!great winter project. One reel series I was impressed with was the long beach. Well made and tough!basically a senator minus the metal rings, correct?anyways, let me know what you think
I think after servicing that many Penn reels over several weeks you could probably do it blindfolded. :d The Longbeach 66, 67, 68 uses same gears as black 2/0, 3/0, and 4/0. I believe the black 4/0 has a different pinion gear though. Agree that the Longbeach is a tough reel: good torque and line capacity. Probably why their run was over 60 years and still many in use 20 years after the last one was built.
MACflyer, rule 3: don't leave fish to find fish!
Quote from: MarkT on May 06, 2026, 02:35:24 AMMACflyer, rule 3: don't leave fish to find fish!
Absolutely! That's an unwritten rule, but occasionally requires a crew reminder and/or discussion.
That's quite the bunch of Jigmasters there. Turn up any silver aluminum spools? They are hard to find but do exist. Not sure if Penn made them.
Along the Pacific Coast, the favorite boat reels for charter-bottom fishing are the Long Beach's. Mostly 60's and 65's. Lots of spare parts out there.
Awesome few of them have aluminum spools.
Quote from: cbar45 on May 06, 2026, 03:43:21 AMThat's quite the bunch of Jigmasters there. Turn up any silver aluminum spools? They are hard to find but do exist. Not sure if Penn made them.
Yes, penn made silver aluminum spools for 501, and 500 jigmasters, but only for a very short time. I saw a 500 silver spool on ebay yesterday for $20 obo
Heres a custom built cortez jigmaster 500 with a stock silver spool. They do exist
Quote from: Maxed Out on May 06, 2026, 06:54:51 PMQuote from: cbar45 on May 06, 2026, 03:43:21 AMThat's quite the bunch of Jigmasters there. Turn up any silver aluminum spools? They are hard to find but do exist. Not sure if Penn made them.
Yes, penn made silver aluminum spools for 501, and 500 jigmasters, but only for a very short time. I saw a 500 silver spool on ebay yesterday for $20 obo
Heres a custom built cortez jigmaster 500 with a stock silver spool. They do exist
That reel is beautiful. I am thinking about doing a Penn reel upgrade. Are those parts still available from Cortez?
Quote from: Tmurphdawg on May 07, 2026, 02:06:06 AMThat reel is beautiful. I am thinking about doing a Penn reel upgrade. Are those parts still available from Cortez?
Yes indeed, sideplates with matching shift lever,seat,spacer bars, and he also has custom handle blades, and knobs. CortezConversions.com
Here's a odd ball spool, a graphite Newell spool for a Penn 500. I think they made these by mistake. Not many around
That All-In-Silver jiggy is nice!
Thanks for confirming that those spools are indeed of Penn manufacture.
The all red makes for a sweet custom jigmaster as well, and the penn red aluminum spool is much more common than the silver spool.
Every part of this reel is from CortezConversions, minus the red spool and red Pro Challenger star adjuster