Is there anything that can be done to a penn 109? I've got a mint condition one that I bought a few years back for no reason. I was given one as a teen to go fishing with.. I was fishing in Perdido one day and laid the baited rod down. The bait was in about 1 foot of water and about 3ft from shore. Bait dangling in water. I got through fishing with other rods and picked it up. SOMETHING just about snatched the rod out of my hand. It ran and peeled some drag, then broke all 4 screws on the reel seat! Smashed the first guide on the rod and broke the line... I'm guessing it was a big ray to be that shallow, and just sitting there with the bait for who knows how long. I don't remember what ever happened to the reel. But I got all nostalgic one day and bought one off Ebay for about $10 shipped. It is in PERFECT museum quality condition. After all these years, I figure that I might as well use it for something. Are there any mods that can be done to make it better? I'm really itching to mod something while I wait for the hex gears to become available for my 114h.
If it is good shape I would just service it and fish it. Use HT-100 drags and you may want to upgrade to a jigmster power handle. If you are looking for free spool then ditch the level wind and lube the bushings with TSI 301. You can go way further than this but this will work great for this reel.
Ron
Cool. yeah, I serviced it when I got it. Looked new inside as well. I would not be surprised if it had never been used. I have heard that they make great salmon reels, but I do not live in the NW and there are no salmon here in the deep south... Except at Winn Dixie. haha
They do make great catfish reels though.
At one time they were considered a good salmon reel, I prefer the Penn 10. I have a friend that uses one for large Klamath Lake redband trout.
It'll do good for big catfish and those lunker bass you all get down there. It will hold plenty of the size mono you need, that's for sure.
Ron