do I need a Baja Special reel?

[steelfish]

well, lately my other "me" which is a tackle ho is having a crush on this reel, the  penn Baja Special.
but my real me which is a poor weekend warrior keeps say no, you dont.

well, at the end seems like the Tackle ho on me won the mental battle.

I just got a used but in good shape Baja Special reel, since the first day it appered on the fishing store shelfs I knew it would be a perfect reel for fishing on the panga boat, old school look and new guts plus powerful and narrow, but hey, you guys already know that 3x better than me.

this is how I got it, that line will be taken off and I will install 400yds of 80# braid and top it with 60# mono.
big plus was to find out that has one of those 5/0 alan tani handle knobs, those really rock, now I want all my reels with AT delrin handle knobs






I just also got one of the ratchets that Keta made for this reel which is a big improvement over the stock ratchet that have caused few aislated problems on the AR dogs, in few days I will open the reel and compare both ratchets for you guys to check it out,  and I will install Keta ratchet and test it if not with a big fish then lifting some dead weights.

Lee, according to some readings seems like you have to look into made the small dogs on your same SS material just like the 113h, 112h and 114h dogs you use to make, yours are pure SS solid metal and factory ones are molded poured SS which is softer.


PS: I need to stop this tackle ho thingy before my wife starts to notice some of the last new adquisitions of penn reels on the fishing rack shelf

[Keta]

PS: I need to stop this tackle ho thingy before my wife starts to notice some of the last new adquisitions of penn reels on the fishing rack shelf

Wives can be unreasonable at times.

[jonnou]

nice handle

[steelfish]

nice handle

thanks, the boss (alan tani) has some for sale in you want one

[David Hall]

Tell your wife you got it for her!  But you have to make sure it works right before you give it to her.
I started doing that 25yrs ago, now I just say thanks for the gift you bought me, she says what did I buy you this time?
Oh just a new reel,
how much did I spend?
That's not important, it only matters that I wanted it and you bought it for me, your so great to me,   So I was thinking you know our anniversary is coming up in a few weeks and we really should do something big so I was thinking about that fishing boat I bought you for our anniversary back in 2008 could really use a crab Davit.

[steelfish]

Tell your wife you got it for her!  But you have to make sure it works right before you give it to her.
I started doing that 25yrs ago, now I just say thanks for the gift you bought me, she says what did I buy you this time?
Oh just a new reel,
how much did I spend?
That's not important, it only matters that I wanted it and you bought it for me, your so great to me,   So I was thinking you know our anniversary is coming up in a few weeks and we really should do something big so I was thinking about that fishing boat I bought you for our anniversary back in 2008 could really use a crab Davit.

LOL that is a nice one.. I should try it next time.

when I really want something I tell my wife, ok, dont give me any gift on father's day, nothing on my D-day and for xmas just tell me how much are you thinking to spend on me, I will add to that the money for all those gift and I will opening a box with a new reel on dec 25th.

[steelfish]

Nobody NEEDS a Baja Special, that's probably why I have 2, plus a YTS, a Pro Gear 454 and various 113H reels, all about the same size.

I'd get a Baja as not only is it a great reel but since they are discontinued and replaced with the US Senator, that unique reel may be a collector's item for your grandkids and they will be posting pictures of it 50 years from now on Alan Tani's grandkids reel repair forum.

LOL this two posts spoiled me really bad.
since I got my Baja I really like it and its always with me on my fishing trips, trolling or on the yoyo, I was keeping my eye on fleabay from time to time to check if I ever saw another Baja Special at a good price but no avail.
But just few hours ago on my lunch time I went to a near yard sale from my work and saw on a table along with others reels an old 113 blacky that a guy was selling for cheap because he hate them a lot, too dang slow and weak he said.



I took it just because of the really cheap price and because with some R&D parts it will become on one awesome reel, I dont know, maybe you guys have a better idea but this reel doesnt look like the good old 113 blackies to me, its something familiar on the side places, a tuna figure that looks appealing.









scooore!!  well now I own two of these babies and came to stay and to fish on the Baja waters
Tom!! hurry up with the R&D parts mi amigo, seems like I will need two more, or maybe three.

PS: the reel sounds still reely good and the free spool its really nice, it has a sound if you spin the spool so, it might need new bearings but thats not a problem at all

[Rivverrat]

You might want to soak it for a couple days before you try & look inside that one....Jeff

[day0ne]

Hope those missing screws aren't broken off in the frame.

[steelfish]

You might want to soak it for a couple days before you try & look inside that one....Jeff

thanks for the advice Jeff, I sprayed some Inox Mx3 lubrican all over the reel, it was really all cover up with oil and I leave it on a ziplock bag, it will stay there for some days, no hurry on open this reel up, I have some reel to work on before gettin into this one, not the 1st time doing this method and it had worked wonders before.

Hope those missing screws aren't broken off in the frame.

well to bad, they seem to be broken inside the frame, i will try to take them out with a screw stractor tool, if not luck with those and at least I can take the rest of the screws and the side plates out from the frame then I will be golden, I have another Baja Special frame and another spool that I can use if I have to, I got that frame and spool from another forum as spare for mine, my plan was to unpainted them and paint them on a unique color and install them on my working reel, but if I have no luck with the screws on this new reel I will use the spare frame, all I have to order some are extra sideplates screws.

[thorhammer]

nice find Alex! I love a yard sale special!

[MarkT]

With all those broken screws, even with a good price, it could be a bad deal. Good that you have a spare frame!

[steelfish]

With all those broken screws, even with a good price, it could be a bad deal. Good that you have a spare frame!

there are only 3 broken screws, I have a machinist shop near from home, I think they can take all those screws out for not too much money, I will try myseft first to take the rest of the screws and the side plates out, but yep, that spare frame will save the day, even if I can take all the screws out I will use the spare frame on this reel, its looks almost new.



I will let you know how this ended up in few days

[steelfish]

I will let you know how this ended up in few days

well,.. errr, hmm how can I say this?
I coulndt wait more day and yesterday took the new reel to check how bad were the broken screws into the frame

this next is the new reel with the spare frame, spool and left side plate(its more like half reel but its missing all the internals and right side plate with handle, etc so 70% of the cost of the reel is missing, making it no cost efective to get all those parts new from scotts)




the frame screws that were still in good shape were kind of hard to take them out but with some force, a good screwdriver and lots of inox oil I could take them out completely and still in good shape but not with a lot of white buildup for the lack of grease when installed.
but the good news are that I could take the side plates, the broken screws were missing the head so the side plate slide away once I took the screws in good shape out, wasnt that easy but with a tap here and a tap there on the side plates and they were free.





as you can see on the above pictures, the original owner or whoever that broke the screws, tried to take the sideplates out with no luck because the edges of the frame had a lot of bad nicks and scratches from the use of a screwdriver to separate the frame from the sideplates, I think he was afraid of using WD-40 or something because there is no sign of any lubrican on the frame, it was dry as bone.
as you can also see, once I took the sideplates out the broken screws were still on the frame, but they were easily taken out with a small locking pliers and Inox oil again, just locked the jaws on the screw and turned it around until free.




the aluminium behind reelseat was on a nice shape, no signs of corrosion in there just pretty dirty.


overall, that frame is still pretty usable as is, its nicked and badly scratched on the bottom but if I have to use it Im pretty sure there will be no problems on it while fishing, but thanks that I have an almost new spare frame I will and the reel will look pretty good.

just to finish on this reel, once I finished to separate all those parts I put some yamaha grease on the visible interior metal parts, interior sides of the frame, reelseat, etc, then put all the parts together again and storage the reel on a ziplock bag for be serviced later, but now I have a peace on mind that there arent more hidden problems and its gonna be a good reel in pretty good shape when finished.

[thorhammer]

Alex, finish that up this weekend so we can get a look

Did you get the rest of the stuff in that crate? looks like a wide Senator in there.