Yes, I very much enjoy using the Senator 114 reels for offshore fishing. I wanted to use the 114HLW and 115 reels to get more line capacity without using braid backing.
I have many lever drag two speed reels. They are great for trolling. But I like using star drag reels for bait fishing.
I installed longer handles on my offshore star drag reels. They certainly add more cranking power, but one can increase the handle length only so much before it becomes uncomfortable and awkward.
In response to Sal's remark regarding sportmanship, the ultimate is catching a 300 lbs swordfish on a hand line (yoyo). Mano a mano, no rod, no reel. There are many places in this world where that is done on a daily basis. It works just fine. They do it in Florida and it is lots of fun.
I have pulled many Swords in on handline gear. The trick is to limit the pressure you apply, since it is easy to rip through their relatively soft mouths. These were on commercial gear, and we often utilized a 'spider' device, to finish the job. These are multiprong gaff hooks that swivel and are attached to a heavy carrier that xan be clamped on the line, and sent down to gaff the fish in the head during the last 50-100' of the fight. We once caught a monster 900lb + female that had several smaller 60-100lb males swimming circles around the fish. I had a fishing rod and free casted seversl beautiful rigged deadbaits riggt in front of these fish, but they showed absolutely no interested. Swordfish are beautiful and remarkable animsls, and wonderful table fare to boot.