Has anyone used the Penn Torque, probably the 200, as a bottom jigging reel? I'm a Northeast angler and spend a lot of time bouncing 18 to 24 ounces of jig or sinker off the bottom. I get really darn tired of reeling it up when I'm on a drift and have been looking for a high speed reel that can handle the work of banging up and down with that big a jig. My current favorite reel is the late lamented Pro-gear 454. Those guys NEVER would have had trouble if they'd marketed more on the East Coat. Second question on the Torque -- are extra spools available for it? If I'm bottom fishing, I like to use braid, probably 50lb, with a flourocarbon or mono shockleader of no more then six to twelve feet. On the other hand, if I'm going to use the reel for any trolling, I'd want to use a substantially longer topshot. Anyone know?

The problem you will run into is that high speed gears are low power gears, so if you are using 24 ounces of lead, you'll get your bait up fast only if you have a very strng arm. I wouldn't want gears any faster than aboiut 4.5 to 1 for bottom fishing.

Have used the TRQ200 with jigs only up to about 9 ounces, and most often with 3 to 5-ounce models.
It cranks them up extremely well, as it does the various fish species that bite them.
It even feels good with a 10-foot jigstick and one of the larger grade Cedros yellowtail.
It works well with 30 and 40-pound mono topshots of various lengths, and will hold 400 yards of 65-pound solid Big Game Braid with a very short topshot/leader.
Can't comment specifically on the relatively heavy jig weights you mention, but they might be a bit much.

And there I thought I'd found something that could do it all. One of my problems is finding the right balance between the strength of the gear and the weight/bulk of the reel for cod jigging. I guess I'll stick with buying up Pro Gear 454s when I can find them.

You might look at the Baja Special, I'm jigging for Pacific Halibut and large Ling Cod using 12-28 oz jigs and it works fine with 65-80# power pro. More than enough drag and cranking power.