Penn Long Beach 66 - drag expectations?

[williewiskers]

I have shied away from any Long Beach reels due to ready availability of senators, but I find my self with one due to it having a "turquoise" 24-66 handle I was obligated to collect for my wife. Now I have this reel that is in pretty good shape, but im haunted by long-standing reports that its drag is too inferior for it to be viable for the height of its spool. If I upgrade the stack to HT-100, what kind of workable drag range could I expect out of this thing?

Thanks to whomever has the answer.

[alantani]

not much, really. it's a massive reel.  i googled it and found that it will hold 275 yards of 50#mono.  for that line weight, you would normally look for a 30% drag setting, so 15 pounds of drag.  you would be lucky to get half of that.....   

[RowdyW]

A LB 66 has the same drags as a 113 4/0. To get a little more drag out of a 66, 67, 68, or 113 4/0 use LB 60 or 65 drag washers as they are thinner and you can make a 5 stack set up. You will also need one more eared and one more keyed washer. Spool diameter is the same on the LB 66-67-68 and 113 4/0, just different widths.      Rudy

[Decker]

If you have the old thick washers, it is a 3-stack. However, if you replace those with carbontex washers, I believe you can easily fit 5 washers, using additional stock metal washers.  I don't know how much force that gives you.  There are others that know more about this on the site.  Rudy, for example 

[mo65]

   These old Long Beach reels were designed around linen line...hence the huge spools. Then along came the thinner mono...so now the thing will hold a ton of line rated higher strength than it's stock drag set up. The bottom line is, even with upgrades, you're still just squeeking into the proper drag range for 50lb. mono...BUT...for many years these things have been fished successfully anyway. Personally, I find the slow gear speed to be a bigger obstacle than the drag power. Although I don't fish old LBs...I still love 'em.

[Alto Mare]

If comparing spool diameter and having the line at full, the 66 might be just as fast as a Squidder, as for line retrieve per crank... I wouldn't call it really slow.

I will disagree with the drag numbers and this is only my opinion.
The 66 is a little tank.
The teeth in the main gear are really beefy and the 13-49 is also a strong pinion.
When equipped with the ultimate drag kit, I wouldn't be too worried pushing it to #20.
I believe it could handle it.

Sal

[Newell Nut]

I put 5 stacks in several of the 66s for the party boat when I was doing their work. They work great for bottom fishing.

Dwight

[foakes]

Yeah, just because they are all labeled "LongBeach" doesn't mean they are the same.

The LB 60 - 65 are the lighter LB's.  But still extremely capable and tough reels -- make no mistake.

The 66-67-68 are in a different class.  They are like Senators with 2 rings instead of 4.

These Long Beach  reels have more than proved themselves for 80 or 90 years now.

Upgrades are available on all of these, if desired.

Best,

Fred

[mo65]

  Although I don't fish old LBs...I still love 'em.

   I just realized...I do fish with one Long Beach! The LB267 pictured below has all steel gears, a 5-stack drag, and double dogs. I used it for bottom fishing Sea Bass and limited out with no problems...it was a joy to use. With the 5-stack I set the drag at about 12lbs. and used 40lb. Trilene Big Game.

If comparing spool diameter and having the line at full, the 66 might be just as fast as a Squidder, as for line retrieve per crank... I wouldn't call it really slow.

   You are spot on Sal, and I for one should know this, I've commented many times how a large spool helps with the small gears concerning speed. Although the Long Beach wasn't quite as fast as the Senator 113Hs the boat provided, I had no trouble keeping up with the other guys.

[Alto Mare]

That's a nice reel Mo.
You know what's funny?
One day I tested many reels fully loaded with line.
I did this By dragging a led weight On the tile floor.
No matter what ratio, most penn reels retrieved the same amount of line Per crank, if I remember correctly I think it was 3.1/4 tiles, making it 40" per crank.
Maybe That's how Penn wanted it.

Sal

[mo65]

That's a nice reel Mo.

   Thanks Sal. I wish I had a few more...but they don't seem to pop up on eBay often...and out here in Ohio you never see any at fleamarkets. Although the frame is graphite, it is still a frame, and with the top post it is a very solid reel.
   You reminded me of another thing by mentioning pulling a sinker across the floor. I have a fishing buddy who uses Ambassadeurs, and he was always poking at me about my "big slow Penns". I tried to explain how his tiny spools made his faster gears no faster than my Penns. We dragged some sinkers across the floor and his face froze...HA!

I have shied away from any Long Beach reels due to ready availability of senators, but I find my self with one due to it having a "turquoise" 24-66 handle I was obligated to collect for my wife.

williewhiskers,   
   Can you post a pic of that turquoise handle knob? I don't think I've ever seen that color on a LB...lots of green ones...but no turquoise.

[Decker]

I like the picture-plate bigger LBs. I've stuck one on a solid 113H narrow frame just for show.  Looks awesome, but would require redrilling the screw holes.

[mo65]

   Something else I just though of...when putting a 5-stack into these big LBs...file and lap the metal washers flat and smooth. It will pick up a few pounds on the top end, and pull smoother too. Also I remembered something else last night when Sal mentioned the gearing being able to handle up to 20lbs. of drag. Some of the guys have modded Bryan's 5-stack kit into a 7-stack kit, which could put you into the 20lb. range if that is what you really needed. With that mod this thing could easily fish 50lb. mono. 

[RowdyW]

Remember, whatever drag mods work in the larger LB's also works in the black plated 113 4/0. They use the same main gear.

[Brewcrafter]

This Long Beach talk brought back some memories - the first reel that I ever actually tore down and modified when I first discovered this site about 2 years ago.  My Dad picked this up in the 1980's for bottom fishing out of Morro Bay: the fish were getting smaller, he was getting older, and we were going more on friends private boats than on the regular "party boats" so the traditional 6/0 with big crank and rail plate was really overkill.  The 68 mounted on an old Sabre rod was the way to go.
I got a lot of advice from The Boss on this first build - stainless 5 stack (I think I cobbled it together from 2 x 3 stack sets based on the leftover parts in the box) a SS Gear Sleeve from Alan (he specifically suggested that in upgrading this reel that rounding off the stock brass part was a weak point) and a sweet handle from Alan as well (I think he also uses them on Jigmasters?).
My goal with this was to use for bottom fishing/bounce balling for halibut here off of SoCal, something that rarely gets to 200' of depth, usually more in the 100-150' range where we go.  Spooled it up with 50" Izorline Greenspot (probably overkill, but I am old school).  Works great and has never let me down.  Looking back at my notes in the box (and I verified it just now by pulling out the drag sale) I can pretty much max it out at 14# drag - which admittedly is pushing it but way more than adequate for what I built it for.
Fun side note, on a trip on my buddies boat right after the reconditioning we decided to run offshore just to see what was going on before heading in at the end of the day - and lo and behold found a lone kelp paddie holding a school of Dorado!  Being totally surprised we all grabbed whatever we could get our hands on quickly, and instead of grabbing an outfit that I could actually cast with in the interest of getting into the water quickly grabbed this outfit and put on short topshot of 30# flouro, a 1/0 ringed hook, and flylined a sardine. We were cleaning fish late into the night on that trip...
I have my Dad's old 65 and 66 as well, just haven't gotten around to giving them attention since I really don't have a need to use them currently, but may be a fun project to pass the time right now. - John