How good are penn senator reels?
Im looking at the special 113-114HLW's with the alum frame for shark.
How many bearing do they have and where?
I keep seeing ht-100 drags, if all senators have they same drag then are these bigger reels under dragged? Im wondering how well they cast also and if they have any braking?

i have the 114hlw w/ aluminium frame.

its a great reel for trolling or shark fishing.
the drags are the same size as the old style.
you can always switch around the washers and fiber drags around to make it heavyier on the drags.

cool reel to have , and i always bring mine when i feel the big fish are around.
i really like the alum( frame.

The aluminum frame Senators are good reels and much better than the graphite frame models. However, they are inclined to corrode so it is vital that you remove the sideplate screws and grease them heavily at least once per year. Also, I don't think you should rearange the drag washers on the standard Senators like you can with the Baja Special. Just leave them stock (round metal,HT-100, eared metal, HT-100, etc.)

Just like the other folks said: good reels, the "H" series Senators are extremely versatile.

There's always at least one 113H on my boat at all times.

Tom

I own the 114HLW and the 114HN and have found both reels to be tough and very dependable.

The HN (Aka Baja Special) is a serious fishermans reel, I wish I'd have had them back when I was terroizing Baja as I'd have killed a whole bunch more fish.

What is so great about the HN?

Open top narrow 4/0 with a decent gear ratio, heavier gears, castable if you are into wahoo and that stuff, but enough torque to be very useful for deep jigging and hauling big reluctant critters off the bottom. THere are some impressive claims as to the out of box amount of drag it can produce.

Mark had a pretty good writeup on them somewhere around here.

Also due for 2008 are the "metal Senators", in the 113 and 114 size.
Besides the obvious metal sideplate/frame construction, they also have the ISP technology from the Torque reels and a "double-dog" anti-reverse.
Meant to be an upgrade from the regular Senators, without the major price increase of the "premium" reels.

Steve got pictures yet?

Better bigger gears and drags, handle like the HN?

I'm loving it!

There are basic external photos on the Penn website, and a pretty good one of the ISP and double-dog in the 2008 catalogue.

I think I want the 4/0...

Looks like the handle can be retro'd to the orginal 113H?

Handle looks like a P-Newell---maybe it will fit my 112h?