Field Tested Limits of Penn US Senator (it's only 142.5# and absolutely no more)

[revbailey]

This reel was taken out but never used, spooled w 80# Momoi something or other, 8oz sinker rig (everyone else was still flat-falling it)

I'm an idiot, let's start there.  I normally work on my Penns and like to 'hot-rod' them w Pro Challenger type stuff, etc.  I was very keen to try this US Senator as I hoped it be Penns answer to what we're making in our garages w old Accurate/Tiburon parts, I guess to the point of blind confidence - anyways, moving on...

This was hooked on the Pacific Queen 10/23 and anyone that has been following the Fisherman's Landing Fish Counts has seen that for the last bit the BFT have been topping out 300#ish w it not uncommon for boats filling limits on 100-200#+; mind you there are plenty of schoolies coming over the rail... But. This. Reel. Should. Not. Have. Been. Dropped. In....LOL

This was the first big one hooked in the morning, 6ish, it beat me up for a while and then the deckhand John for a bit and we got color, and then it happened.  At about 30 feet the deckhand starts working like a madman yelling 'reel blew up, wont retrieve' - the deckhand was a fricking wizard by getting it to the gaffs without a handle, seriously - dead reel w 30ft+ left - and no handlining, ask'em...lol...(there's more cool details, however no one but me cares   )

Turns out that bastard didn't damage the mechanics of the reel that I can tell yet, but it destroyed the factory drags. And no you can't see the drags yet, I've been here reading Alan for years and this is just finally my excuse to show off my first century catch  142.5# on the scale..

As always,
Hats off to the PQ crew

[philaroman]

beautiful fish
can't wait to see ugly drag

[jurelometer]

My guess would be the the known dog/pawl issue on the US Senator/Baja Special.   The dog gets jammed under the pawl when the reel is under load.  This could cause the reel to lose anti-reverse or get jammed up preventing the handle from turning.   Cortez Conversions has an upgrade kit.  Kind of hard for the drag itself to lock up and prevent winding.  If the drag froze, it might affect the fish talking line, but should not affect the handle turning.    There are several threads on the Bala Special dog/pawl topic.

Nice tuna BTW!  142 lbs sounds doable without damaging a larger Senator that does not have the dog/pawl issue.   Looking forward to seeing what you find.

-J

[Swami805]

Nice tuna! Got to love a good deckhand.
Yup, My $ is on the dog failure too, happened to mine. The post failed and the dog wedged in the moving parts.

[Wompus Cat]

[Gobi King]

Nice fish and great save by the deck hands,

[Rancanfish]

Nice catch.  Nice to know what my Baja's are capable of.  (Mine are both upgraded CORTEZ Conversions).   Thanks Tom!

[steelfish]

wow, great catch, looking forward to see the destroyed internals of the reel

[Crow]

Great  catch !

[Ron Jones]

You need to have a conversation with Tom at Cortes Conversions, I would not fish that reel without having Tom's magic.
Ronald Jones

[Benni3]

That's a big um,,,,, I think maybe the insides of that reel might be ok,,,,,, 4/0+upgrades=6feet,,,,,,,,,,

[Brewcrafter]

NICE Tuna!!!!!!!!! - john

[Maxed Out]

 Nice fatty !! Congrats !

I'm guessing maybe the ears on the ht-100 versa drag washers failed. Once those fail the drag washers would no longer be keyed to the gear and result would be zero drag.  If that is the case, an easy fix is install a new set of drag washers !!

Ted

[David Hall]

Congratulations that's an amazing catch.