Older Penn Reels for kayak fishing

I was gifted some old reels that need various levels of TLC.

* Penn Squidder No. 140
* Penn Monofil No. 25
* Penn Jig-Master No. 500
* Daiwa Sealine 50H
* Penn 114H 6/0 Senator

I am wondering if they are worth repairing and how well they will hold up when kayak fishing. I'm most worried about how well the reels will hold up to being accidentally submerged when I'm trying to wrestle that big halibut onto my yak.

Doesn’t take much to service them, not like the complexities of a baitcaster with level wind and 4-5 different bearings...2-3 stacks of drag washers...  I’d give it a go.

Nice score! I love old Penn reels, but I'm more afraid of losing them vs. dunking them off the kayak. They're also a bit on the heavier side so not easy on the arms if you're jigging. But still worth repairing...yak or no yak.

I'd be happy to take the 114H of your hands if your willing to sell it.
Kevin

I've caught most of my kayak fish in the past 22 years with old Penns.  Definitely worth saving, refurbishing and counting on.  They'll take a dunking better than more modern reels, but working hard to never dunk is a primary focus that's included in what I show people - the reel lives between your knees.

Good luck~   

These were all garage / estate sale finds and no more than a few bucks each.  They clean up well, take a beating and just plain work.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  Definitely worth putting back into the fight. 

I'd be happy to take the 114H of your hands if your willing to sell it.
Kevin

Thanks for the offer but I think I'll hold onto them for now. It seems like a fun project to refurbish them. Based on everyone's responses these reels seem like they will be right at home on the kayak.

These were all garage / estate sale finds and no more than a few bucks each.  They clean up well, take a beating and just plain work.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  Definitely worth putting back into the fight. 

Nice find! I can't wait to take mine out for a test spin.

Here is a jigmaster that I put together for my lady. It started out as a left hand retrieve 500. Then I discovered alantani.com and went kinda crazy on a bunch of aftermarket parts for it. I put it on a cousins 700xl and it has become one of my favorite setups for halibut trolling.

That looks hell awesome!   

Here is a jigmaster that I put together for my lady. It started out as a left hand retrieve 500. Then I discovered alantani.com and went kinda crazy on a bunch of aftermarket parts for it. I put it on a cousins 700xl and it has become one of my favorite setups for halibut trolling.

Nice! How do you like the tiburon frame? What reel handle is that?

+1 on Alan Tani's videos.  He shows little tricks that make it pretty easy to take them apart and get them back together again.  And he shows how to replace the drag washers with carbon fiber ones, and to use Shimano drag grease. I use old Penns, and they work fine.  Maybe a little faster retrieve would be nice at times, but that's not a problem when a decent fish is on the line.

For years, I’ve had great results fishing for rockfish, lings, halibut, whatever with my collection of Penn 85s/Seaboys that are older than I am, with one caveat. The old Bakelite plastic spools can’t handle deep fishing with heavy weight/fish. I’ve cracked two while cranking up big fish from 200+ feet. What happens is monofilament stretches a little when you are reeling in something heavy, slightly reducing its diameter. As the line winds around the spool while you are reeling, there’s still tension on the line that’s just getting to the spool. But the line underneath eventually doesn’t have any more tension from the weight of the fish, allowing it to relax back to normal diameter. But with all the tightness and pressure the line on the outside is still putting on the line underneath, the force of the expansion as the line relaxes is directed outward into the sides of the spool, which eventually fail. With metal spools, no problems and easy maintenance. Sometimes a screw needs a quick turn, particularly the one that holds the cranker handle on, but that’s no big thing as long as you pay a little attention. If it’s going to be deep drops all day, I occasionally use an old Penn Senator that seems kinda bulletproof. A Penn Jigmaster that’s only a few years old is the preferred reel for targeting lings and other bigger fish even though the old 85s can handle it. Even with all the love and satisfaction to be had from the oldies, that infant Jigmaster is really nice for confidence and a smoother feel sometimes.