Did Penn Make an Albacore Special- Yes They Did

Started by Bill B, February 06, 2023, 09:56:25 PM

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Bill B

So with my hand in a cast I've had lots of time to sit and think.  A very dangerous situation for me 🤣. I got to thinking about the Penn Silver Beach 99, that as we all know started the "Albacore Special" rolling.  Now for those of you that are new to this, it was common practice for fishermen to swap the head plate (handle side) from a Jigmaster 500 to the 99 using the "Quick Change" feature.  This gave them a faster gear ratio of 4:1 instead of the 3:1 of the 99.  So while pondering life and how dangerous coffee mugs can be (inside joke) it dawned on me the Special Senator 112H is pretty close in size to the 99.

Up to the shop I went, pulled out a 99, 112H, 500, and a Jigmaster 501.

What I found has made me think that Yes!  Penn did make an Albacore Special, even though it was not marketed as such. 

So what follows is what I have made this determination on.

1.  Both the Jigmaster 500 and Special Senator 112H share the same bridge, gear sleeve, gears, etc.

2. The 500 and 112H both have 4:1 gear ratio.

3.  The width between the frame of both the Silver Beach 99 and the 112H is 2.10" +/- due to the accuracy of my calipers.

4. The diameter of the 99 side plate is 3.06" +/- and the diameter of the 112H is 3.25" +/-.  The difference is approximately 3/16" of an inch. 

5. Spool diameter of the 99 is 2.38" +/- and the 112H is 2.53" +/- the 112H is approximately 1/4" wider in diameter.  I do not have a 112H 3 piece spool for an exact comparison.  Only an aluminum spool.

6. The frames of both reels are post construction from the factory, however there are solid frame options from other vendors.

7.  The reel seat of the 99 is a 3 screw, the 112H is 2 screws.  Many will argue the 3 screw seat is 50% stronger that the 2 screw, but I will counter with "have you ever seen a seat fail due to only 2 screws?"  I have not, but have seen many seats bent due to excessive drag bending the seat towards the rod tip.  Never have I seen a screw shear off or strip the threads due to excessive drag.

8. The 99 has trim rings on the tail plate only and the 112H has them on both sides.

9.  Line capacity of the 99 is approximately 250 yards of 30# mono and the 112H is approximately 300 yards.   

10.  I don't have an accurate scale but both reels feel about equal in weight.  Maybe because my 112H has an aluminum spool.

Now I will do some assuming here (yes I know the old adage about assuming 🤣) but let's look at the timelines of the reels and see if we can make this a reasonable assumption.

1.  The 99 was introduced in 1949 and was in the Penn catalog through 1957. 

2.  The Jigmaster 500 was introduced in 1959.

3.  The 112H was introduced in the 60's.

I will base my assumption on the likely hood of how long it took to find out you could swap the head plates between the 500 and 99, maybe a year.  Then the time it took Penn to figure out the fishing community was doing the modification, engineer the 112H, put it in production and market the reel.

Many will argue that other companies marketed Albacore Specials, ProGear, Accurate, etc. or the 501 with braid could do what the Silver Beach 99 does.  My study is Penn saw what fishermen were doing with the Silver Beach and responded with the Special Senator.

So there you have it.  I believe Penn did have an Albacore Special in the Special Senator 112H.  Bill



It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

MarkT

Don't forget the Newell 332! The Newell 322/332/338 correspond to the Penn 501/99/500 only with spool bearings and 5:1 gears.
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

Maxed Out

 Bill I agree with all your observations. The 112h is basically a high speed long beach 65 with outer rings. The 2/0,3/0, and 112h 3/0 are all built from the long beach platform, and those spools are all larger diameter than a jigmaster. The larger diameter means more inches per crank and as mentioned, higher capacity. The benefit of the jigmaster is quick change of spools. The 112h comes ready to go, but the 99 jigmaster must be built, and just a 99 aluminum spool costs more than a whole 112h reel. I'm saying all this and I still fish my custom 99 jigmasters....
We Must Never Forget Our Veterans....God Bless Them All !!

Bill B

Ted glad you agree.  Once I started looking at the specs it was amazing how close they were.  Now I will admit the 112H is in my Top 5 favorite reels.  Now when the albacore return to SoCal you can bet the 112H and the 501 will be two of the first reels pulled out.  Bill
It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

Maxed Out

 Bill the albacore never left, they just moved north. Many who live in Nor-Cal and fish out of San Diego and driving 500+ miles south to get there, don't realize it's a shorter drive to Westport albacore !!
We Must Never Forget Our Veterans....God Bless Them All !!

MarkT

#5
The Albacore special is the 99'd mid-size Jigmaster, not the 112h. Mine has a Tiburon frame/spool.

I've heard that the first 99'd Jigmaster was done at Pete's Just Fishing at the foot of the Redondo Beach pier back in the day.
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

Bill B

Mark I agree if we are looking at "Albacore Special" as a name.  However the 112H matches the Silver Beach 99 pretty close. Close enough for me to think Penn may have built the 112H to fill that niche.  Or just filling out the Special Senator line with a 3/0.  Bill
It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

MarkT

If you want to think of it that way, well that's fine. The 112h was a good 30# bait reel. I caught my first WSB with a Tib framed one!  The Jigmaster '99' is as described above. The 'Albacore Special' was created using the Newell kit... mid-sized bars/seat/spool. Newell conversions usually had fish names... Albacore special, Marlin special (wide 4/0), Broadbill special, Black Marlin special (wide 6/0)... etc.
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

Shellbelly

It's interesting that Penn didn't settle into naming its reels after fish or places.  I know of only two models, Sailfisher and Baja Special.  They seemed to market their designs based on types of fishing and general uses in the earlier models, then got into the intense trendy names we see now.

One other earlier reel was the Horrocks Ibbotson "Albacore" #427.  A 250 yd, 30# mono model with a 1-1/2" spool.  I believe it's a late 50's into the 60's reel.  The name pretty much narrowed the model to a certain fish, right?  It fits in with the 99/500 class reels as far as size and capacity.  Performance is probably another matter. 
"Little boy,  you can get glad in the same pants you just got mad in."  (My Momma)
"You shot it boy, you're gonna clean it and eat it".  (My Dad)

Maxed Out

#9
 There is 1 modern Penn that often gets overlooked. The Penn Seaboy 190 with graphite sideplates and alumin spool. There are 2 different gear ratios. 3.1/1 and 3.5/1. The spool is larger diameter than jigmaster, so 3.5/1 on the 190 would be same as 4/1 on a jigmaster. The seaboy 190 also has jigmaster main gear and drags, and yes, it is 99 width
We Must Never Forget Our Veterans....God Bless Them All !!

thorhammer

#10
Quote from: Shellbelly on February 08, 2023, 12:14:53 PMIt's interesting that Penn didn't settle into naming its reels after fish or places.  I know of only two models, Sailfisher and Baja Special.  They seemed to market their designs based on types of fishing and general uses in the earlier models, then got into the intense trendy names we see now.

One other earlier reel was the Horrocks Ibbotson "Albacore" #427.  A 250 yd, 30# mono model with a 1-1/2" spool.  I believe it's a late 50's into the 60's reel.  The name pretty much narrowed the model to a certain fish, right?  It fits in with the 99/500 class reels as far as size and capacity.  Performance is probably another matter.


LONG BEACH! Ted will stop speaking to you if you leave that out. Also, Del Mar and Silverado. I think there may have been an Atlantic in the 30's; the collectors will have to clarify.

UKChris1

Hi Bill B - I hope the cast is off soon and all is well.
Thanks for the interesting discussion on the (possible) evolution of the 112H.

We don't have albacore here in the UK (though that might change!)

I know what you mean about reflections over reel parts - having endured too long indoors in the recent past thanks to Covid lockdowns, I sat staring at the Penn parts list  :-[  and noted just how often the same parts were shared amongst different reels. Makes a lot of sense of course to minimise the inventory but what puzzled me was the Senator range: sizes go 1/0, 2/0, 3/0, 4/0, 6/0, 9/0, 10/0, 12/0, 14/0, 16/0. Why 9/0 and not 8/0?

No answers of course...


Donnyboat

I have a Penn Generation V75, is a gold colour, the spool is 1" very smooth reel 5.4 to 1 gear ratio. cheers Don.
Don, or donnyboat