# Spooling a Penn Senator 9/0



## BSmee10

I was just looking for some opinions on what to spool my 9/0 with. I was thinking about putting about 1200 yards of 100 lb powerpro then a 100 yards of 100 lb mono. I will be yaking my baits out. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Bill


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## barclayrl

Were are you going to be fishing? That determines how it should be spooled. If you have lots of sand bars with shells then I would go with less braid and more mono. Also are you going to be spooling yourself? Spooling braid is very difficult and has to be done at least using 15-20 LBs of tension. (Not that easy to do at home) if you do not do this, the braid will dig into itself. Also you will not get near the capacity that is stated.. If this were my 9/0. I would not even consider power pro.. I would go with about 500-750 Yards of Jerry Brown 130 Hollow, then top off the rest with 100-130 Mono in a knotless splice. 130 Hollow is cheaper than 100 Hollow. JB Braid connot even be compaired to power pro.. PP is hard to work with, cuts you easily.. (I have used both and will never even consider buying power pro again.) Honestly if money is a concern, Just go with 600 Yards of JB hollow ($90 + shipping at BHP tackle), then get a 130 (if you go with 100 Mono) or 150 (if you want to run 130 mono) Daho Needle for your splice ($20) and the rest 100-130 mono of your choice.. Your 9/0 spooled this way will be able to bring in up to 8-10 foot sharks. (Maybe not huge hammerheads) Also if you go with BHP Tackle, you can send your reel to them to have is spooled when you buy the Line.. that way you know its done right.

If you do go with power pro, your connection from mono to braid should be a PR knot, so you will have to buy a bobbin for this knot.

As a last resort, just spool it straight 60 lb mono (to save some cash) 

If you need more info PM me your # and I will gladly talk with you on the phone about this.. I have several shark reels (From a 4/0 Senator to an AVET 80W 2 speed) and have setup rigs for lots of my freinds.


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## cobia_slayer

barclayrl said:


> Were are you going to be fishing? That determines how it should be spooled. If you have lots of sand bars with shells then I would go with less braid and more mono. Also are you going to be spooling yourself? Spooling braid is very difficult and has to be done at least using 15-20 LBs of tension. (Not that easy to do at home) if you do not do this, the braid will dig into itself. Also you will not get near the capacity that is stated.. If this were my 9/0. I would not even consider power pro.. I would go with about 500-750 Yards of Jerry Brown 130 Hollow, then top off the rest with 100-130 Mono in a knotless splice. 130 Hollow is cheaper than 100 Hollow. JB Braid connot even be compaired to power pro.. PP is hard to work with, cuts you easily.. (I have used both and will never even consider buying power pro again.) Honestly if money is a concern, Just go with 600 Yards of JB hollow ($90 + shipping at BHP tackle), then get a 130 (if you go with 100 Mono) or 150 (if you want to run 130 mono) Daho Needle for your splice ($20) and the rest 100-130 mono of your choice.. Your 9/0 spooled this way will be able to bring in up to 8-10 foot sharks. (Maybe not huge hammerheads) Also if you go with BHP Tackle, you can send your reel to them to have is spooled when you buy the Line.. that way you know its done right.
> 
> If you do go with power pro, your connection from mono to braid should be a PR knot, so you will have to buy a bobbin for this knot.
> 
> As a last resort, just spool it straight 60 lb mono (to save some cash)
> 
> If you need more info PM me your # and I will gladly talk with you on the phone about this.. I have several shark reels (From a 4/0 Senator to an AVET 80W 2 speed) and have setup rigs for lots of my freinds.


I was just going to say get 1500 of 80lb PP with a 100yrds of 100lb topshot.. butt after reading this post, I might rigs up my empty reels a little differently.. good info right there


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## chris storrs

braid and dacron are great in theory for beach sharking, but atleast on the nc coast, expect "mystery breakoffs"...be it bluefish, spanish, ribbonfish(old friend of mine says hes watched them attack his greenspot dacron)tangles, snags or rubbin on the bar, you WILL get random breakoffs, which with braid can equate to a few hundred dollars....700 yards of 50 pound mono the 9/0 already holds is alottt of line...get a spring scale, learn how much pressure you can put on it, and be prepared to use alot of pressure...if you were to use braid, id have the top shot atleast long enough that the moo is the only thing in the water, say 250 yds if your yakkin the baits 200 yds...that way the braids only exposed while"hooked up" and ya wont lose 200 yards of braid for no apparent reason

and by mystery breakoffs i dont mean while fighting fish, but while waiting...paddle a bait out, set rod down, and however long later line is slack and a few hundred yards of line are gone


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## BLACK ADDER

Very good info, BUT...
The reason off shore boats do not routinely use braid for big fish is the safety factor. If you have ever "wired" a big shark or tuna or billfish, you know things happen. Not all of them good. An accidental wrap of 100 lb test PP would sever things you might have need for in the future...like fingers or hands or ??? Using a "top shot" of something with give to it and more circumference, which means less flesh cutting ability, MIGHT eliminate that threat, but darned if I want to risk it with the grand kids and other bystanders.
Big fish means extra safety required.

BA


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## barclayrl

The method I suggested would allow for 200-300 Yards of mono, So sand bars or leadering should not be an issue. I shark fish NC and have for a few years.. Something else to think of, decent spectra braid naturally floats.. So this also prevents cutoff.. But the spanish can hit your line, Stay away from Bright Colors.. I use Natural white JB and have not had a problem, I use sufix 17LB chartruese mono and it gets hit..

Ryan


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## Hudak

The way some of the old school sharkers would create tension on the line for loading is to use a weight. Create a base with a vertical wooden dowel. Slide your spool down the dowel, then put a 25lb weight (more if needed) on top of the spool, like a weight you would use on a barbell. The weight should create enough tension to prepare your reel for battle with a nice toothy critter.


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## HStew

I would check out what some of the guys at Texas Shark Fishing do. There is a lot of shark fishing goes on at PINS.


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## Phaedrus

Go with what Barclayrl said with 200-300 yards of 100lb MoMoi Diamond catch (it is stronger and thinner than othe mono). I have a 9/0 for sharking and will be rigging it up the same way for NC, SC and FL fishing.


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## OceanMaster

I spool my Daiwa 900H, (9/0 size with Daiwa drag and mods) with a 1500 yard spool of the new Power Pro 65. I then top shot with 60lb mono till the spool is filled....roughly 300 yards of mono. My leaders are 15ft, 300lb test 7 strand Sevlon steel rigged with a single 24/0 circle hook. Never had any issues with cut offs with the braid and the mono gets replaced frequently allowing me to keep the braid safe and sound from chaffing on the sand bars since my rods are 11ft mounted on 4ft surf spikes or mounted on a top rack setup on a 4x4 truck. It allows my setup to keep the line up high with enough spider weight to maintain a lot of tension on the line to keep it up.

I yak my baits out angling into the beach break current at 30 degrees up current. This allows my line and bait to sit up current against a hard spider weight stop which helps keep the line from bowing and also cuts a lot of drag. I've used this setup since braid first came out as well as kayaks to deploy baits. Back in my younger years....it was 80lb mono with a 10ft Hobie longboard surfboard to run baits.

I do the same setup with my Daiwa 600H and my smaller shark setup, Penn 4/0 wide. 

Your drag is limited to a max of probably 25lbs or so on any of these reels. Having more line on big fish with a good solid and smooth drag is better than than higher poundage fishing line which reduces your overall line capacity. There will be times you may want to run baits 400 - 500 yards off the beach....we do that a lot here in Texas when winter hits to target Short-Fin Makos....and having a few more hundred yards of backing using 65 is better to me than the gains made with 100lb test line. Even my 4/0 Wide can work a 6-7ft blacktip pretty well on a 300+ yard set. I do get pretty deep into my spool but even at 3/4 spool....there's a lot of 65lb test braid left on the reel to not sweat it too badly.

Here's my son with an average Texas blacktip with my 4/0 wide spooled as mentioned above.

Padre Island National Seashore Texas (PINS) near Big Shell


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## NTKG

25lb pounds of pressure and that much braid? seems that might be a recipe for a cracked spool


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## Drumdum

NTKG said:


> 25lb pounds of pressure and that much braid? seems that might be a recipe for a cracked spool


 Braid=no stretch=no cracked spool....


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## EDMboarder

I run my penn 9/0 with just straight 50lb mono, with a 100 yards of 80lb mono on top. That's just my preference, I love using braid for sharks but only on smaller reels(6/0 and smaller). But I agree with Chris If your gonna run braid try and have enough mono on top to be sitting in the water.


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## TXnowFLfuture

I know this is late since the last comment was in 2011. I just got a Penn Senator 115 L2 9/0, it says it holds 1500 yards of 100 pound braid and the rod I got says it holds that in braid but in mono it only holds 80 pound. I've always heard you need to add mono as a backing to braid so it doesn't "warp" the main shaft. Do I need to add say 50 yards of mono so it doesn't warp? The place I'll be fishing doesn't have any oysters and bluefisha aren't a big problem down here and ribbonfish aren't that commono either here lol. So I guess my main question is should I add the base layer off mono to protect the reel?


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