Penn senator

[Thorbjorn Hale]

Hi, I was looking into purchasing a Penn senator for targeting larger sharks and was wondering if anybody on here had any experience with them.

thanks Thorbjörn 

[Ed.]

The senator reels are quite dated and there are much better reels out there which are more suitable for that purpose in my opinion.  I prefer to use a lever drag reel for that type of fishing, not saying that you can't use a Senator, but I think that you would enjoy a more modern lever drag reel and have better results when fighting a largish shark.

What size sharks are you thinking of targeting and what is your budget as that would dictate what type of gear you could use in relation to the target size of shark you want to chase.  Lastly, are you wanting to chase them from the land or out in a boat?

Cheers

Ed.

[Old Scaley]

I have an old 4/0 special that you are welcome to borrow for a while to test and try before you buy. I haven’t used it yet. It was owned by a mate, who is sadly not with us any longer, as part of his game fishing arsenal. It is spooled with mono that looks to be about 30lb. I am not looking to sell it (for sentimental reasons) but more than happy to lend it to you for a couple of months if you are interested.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Would something like a Shimano TLD work for landbased fishing? I’ve been thinking about buying one second hand but not sure how it would go casting.

[Old Scaley]

Not great as a casting reel, Hamish.

[Ed.]

As Old Scaley posted above, Game reels aren't designed for casting and the bigger the reel the worse it casts.  Lever drags are better than star drags fishing wise but don't cast very well. There are some exceptions, eg: Okuma released the Solterra SLR-15CS which had a magnetic cast control which worked reasonably well but the next model (SLX) after didn't have it. There are other brands that also have some sort of cast control but there are a couple of things to consider.

1) It all depends on how big a shark are you chasing, the bigger the shark the more drag you need and more line capacity. Some people consider a 1.5m shark to be a big fish whilst others consider a 4m shark to be big.
2) If you are land based then you need a reasonable amount of line to stop a larger model, in a boat you can chase it down. Don't forget that you may have let out 100-200m+ of line to get the bait where it is supposed to be, and that is even before you start fighting it.
3) Your definition of large shark,ie; if under 1.5m then most medium sized reels can handle them, but once you go up to 2.5m+ you are talking about a serious fish and you will need to go to much larger sized reels with more line capacity and more drag, but castability goes down the drain. With 3m+ sharks and you are into specialised equipment, ie; game reels, rods, fighting harnesses and lots of heavy line.

So to answer Hamish's question, yes technically the TLD's can catch sharks depending on the size, but it depends on what size you want to catch, not to mention your budget. There are better reels than the TLD's out there, in Shimano the Tyrnos reels are better, but pricier.

Penn make a reasonable larger game reel that shouldn't break the bank, ie; a 50 sized reel in the Penn Squall range, is about the $175 range new and there is a special on them at the moment $155. I would choose that one over an old Senator any day.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/304633461755?epid=1267461957&hash=item46ed91bbfb:g:yR8AAOSwsedjKBle:sc:AU_ExpressPostParcelSignature!4655!AU!-1&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAwJQ054wPkFkYAOV1tpDGK1G4kz8dB7cM1OChwLj%2FkIrBkv2GPCN3%2FkmwfShCIlYNNnE6LByA8DeRuJlT3rMhe9HFtR5HH1Hn7wePIUA7tM4aqPkek97fYt%2Fn%2BpDowd2mOSwepwaGRLhlHX0QNQIP4%2FEo%2BPyfbiNea2DVRoKjPe9tc4T973oBbSFdvwUZQSRosJsJdzglyCi1tElP%2F60jJUwCHMQSd0OThgJb%2FtclR6gHOrntEvxppudOa5R1OCL%2FVg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABlBMUPaR1-KXYQ.
It has a reasonable amount of drag and line capacity, but downside is the body is made out of graphite as are the TLD's.

Personally, once I am looking at catching fish that require 30+ sized reels then my preference are the Okuma Makairas, but they are true heavy game reels but also start in the $600+ range. There are also Tiagra's, Internationals, and a stack of compact game reels such as the Fathoms, Talicas etc.

Hence I asked about the budget as you wouldn't use them to catch snapper and so forth and mainly used for ballooning and trolling.

Just my 2cents worth.

[Thorbjorn Hale]

17 hours ago, Ed. said:

As Old Scaley posted above, Game reels aren't designed for casting and the bigger the reel the worse it casts.  Lever drags are better than star drags fishing wise but don't cast very well. There are some exceptions, eg: Okuma released the Solterra SLR-15CS which had a magnetic cast control which worked reasonably well but the next model (SLX) after didn't have it. There are other brands that also have some sort of cast control but there are a couple of things to consider.

1) It all depends on how big a shark are you chasing, the bigger the shark the more drag you need and more line capacity. Some people consider a 1.5m shark to be a big fish whilst others consider a 4m shark to be big.
2) If you are land based then you need a reasonable amount of line to stop a larger model, in a boat you can chase it down. Don't forget that you may have let out 100-200m+ of line to get the bait where it is supposed to be, and that is even before you start fighting it.
3) Your definition of large shark,ie; if under 1.5m then most medium sized reels can handle them, but once you go up to 2.5m+ you are talking about a serious fish and you will need to go to much larger sized reels with more line capacity and more drag, but castability goes down the drain. With 3m+ sharks and you are into specialised equipment, ie; game reels, rods, fighting harnesses and lots of heavy line.

So to answer Hamish's question, yes technically the TLD's can catch sharks depending on the size, but it depends on what size you want to catch, not to mention your budget. There are better reels than the TLD's out there, in Shimano the Tyrnos reels are better, but pricier.

Penn make a reasonable larger game reel that shouldn't break the bank, ie; a 50 sized reel in the Penn Squall range, is about the $175 range new and there is a special on them at the moment $155. I would choose that one over an old Senator any day.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/304633461755?epid=1267461957&hash=item46ed91bbfb:g:yR8AAOSwsedjKBle:sc:AU_ExpressPostParcelSignature!4655!AU!-1&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAwJQ054wPkFkYAOV1tpDGK1G4kz8dB7cM1OChwLj%2FkIrBkv2GPCN3%2FkmwfShCIlYNNnE6LByA8DeRuJlT3rMhe9HFtR5HH1Hn7wePIUA7tM4aqPkek97fYt%2Fn%2BpDowd2mOSwepwaGRLhlHX0QNQIP4%2FEo%2BPyfbiNea2DVRoKjPe9tc4T973oBbSFdvwUZQSRosJsJdzglyCi1tElP%2F60jJUwCHMQSd0OThgJb%2FtclR6gHOrntEvxppudOa5R1OCL%2FVg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABlBMUPaR1-KXYQ.
It has a reasonable amount of drag and line capacity, but downside is the body is made out of graphite as are the TLD's.

Personally, once I am looking at catching fish that require 30+ sized reels then my preference are the Okuma Makairas, but they are true heavy game reels but also start in the $600+ range. There are also Tiagra's, Internationals, and a stack of compact game reels such as the Fathoms, Talicas etc.

Hence I asked about the budget as you wouldn't use them to catch snapper and so forth and mainly used for ballooning and trolling.

Just my 2cents worth.

Thanks for answering, I am looking to catch sharks in the 2.5m plus category and I am land based. My budget is around 300 bucks but I would rather spend less to be honest. My biggest shark is 207 which I caught on a 8500 spinfiser but i would like an overhead reel for the peace of mind about getting spooled by something big. I see your point about the senator I just think that its quite a cool reel and fairly budget friendly.

Cheers, Thorbjörn

[Ed.]

Hi Thorbjörn, as you are hoping to catch 2.5m+ sharks, you are starting to get up there in the heavier tackle requirements for serious sized fish, (read expensive to do properly) but as you also have a lowish budget for that purpose, in my opinion probably the best value reel for that purpose "that might do" the job would be the Penn Squall SQL60LD.  They are about the $200 mark, have about 15kg max drag and hold a reasonable amount of braid. Personally I would use a much stronger reel for those sized sharks but as you have to work within your budget it is probably the cheapest option I could find for you.

Bear in mind that I would advise you to get a good rod bucket gimbal belt (get a largish one)., especially if you want to have kids at a later stage! , and a standup fighting kidney harness preferably with a bum strap but you won't get all those with that budget of yours so at least get the Ginbal rod belt at a minimum. You will still need to add braid and mono top shot and or S/S steel cable leader.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/363719950297?epid=7011037906&hash=item54af65ffd9:g:P58AAOSwQ39iNnxO&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoDH3rExVL0n2pxdOg3PNn2ilKwHd7s40ZyUG4VziTvMr54yzoRJvPn5G%2Fc6uLCoGOk4Afo5u31UOjEliuw2zbvt1VuvoDjwCoFntLVtRBnNRIhmCHhAnzVouuaTMibE5XO7HiUDFOu1sQcJ6Mvuf2c9636%2BfT7AJmXeuE%2F1KWCkxj%2F68uJRNiWRajJ8eTrGVU8SG5Of5qnG402PTRs5UfL0%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR87b1qqYYQ

This will save your back especially when the fight drags on for a long time, this is the one I have. There are others brands as well.

https://www.wellsystackle.com.au/_products//Accessories/FishingGIMBALBELTSHARNESSES/AftcoFishingHarness-MAXFORCEXH1-8110-21288-.aspx

As for the rod gimbal belt I made my own, probably cost me about $60 for the parts to make.

Here is one about the size you are wanting to catch, might give you an idea of the size.

https://7news.com.au/news/sharks/massive-25-metre-bull-shark-caught-in-sydney-harbour-thrashes-in-inner-west-shallows-c-5612168

 

Generally for this sort of sized shark, I strongly recommend that you do not fish alone because of the safety aspect during the release part of things.

Good luck in your fishing and keep us posted as to what you decide.

Cheers

Ed.

 

 

 

[Bob9863]

My favourite reel for land based shark fishing was a Shimano Tekota 800, I find the the star drad superior to a leaver drag as they are easier to cast out with, I also like the simplicity of them. I also like the line guide, it takes one potential problem out of fighting the fish. 

For your price range I definitely recommend one, they handle big sharks just fine. 

[Thorbjorn Hale]

On 28/11/2022 at 5:46 PM, Old Scaley said:

I have an old 4/0 special that you are welcome to borrow for a while to test and try before you buy. I haven’t used it yet. It was owned by a mate, who is sadly not with us any longer, as part of his game fishing arsenal. It is spooled with mono that looks to be about 30lb. I am not looking to sell it (for sentimental reasons) but more than happy to lend it to you for a couple of months if you are interested.

Thanks, if i do look into buying a senator i would certainly be interested in using one for a few weeks. 

 

[bigkingie]

On 01/12/2022 at 8:06 AM, Thorbjorn Hale said:

Thanks, if i do look into buying a senator i would certainly be interested in using one for a few weeks. 

 

Nothing wrong with the Senator if you want to cast a bit. Most lever drag have the drag components attached to the spool which makes the spool very heavy, and you get poor casting (the flywheel effect).