Penn Baja and Penn Torque 300 what is each best suited to.....whats better ??

[pc3]

Just thinking about a smaller reel in the kit and wondering what are the advantages + disadvantages of these reels ??

Are they versatile ??

Do they require a full roller rod or just roller tip ??

cheers pc3

[so*CALpaddyhop]

I personally own a penn baja special and it's a great jigging reel. It is perfect for jigging around and throwing a 7x. Mine is 50lb spectra backed with 40lb mono. I personally have a 700m on mine. You can also troll around with this reel. Hope this maybe helped a little.

i personally own 2 baja specials and have been quite pleased with their performance for bottom fishing out here in florida. very versatile reel. will fish heavy jigs for grouper/snapper and flyline livebait for amberjack. solid reel, good price.

off the subject, but...
any opinions on the potential quality of Penn products now that they were sold to Shakespeare?

[WreckinBall]

Torque= higher gear ratio, more drag
Baja Special= lighter, cheaper

[Double Z]

The only down side I've heard rumored about the Torque is some have smoked pinion gears. The dude who told me works at the local tackle shop and decks on a LR boat. Take it with a grain of salt as this is 2nd or 3rd hand info. Even if it's true, it's described as operator error by the anglers slamming the reel into gear without slowing the spool in some manner.

[tunanorth]

The Torque 300 has more "cranking power" while still maintaining the 6.3 to 1 gear ratio.
I caught a 95-pound yellowfin with mine with a 50-pound topshot, and while fighting it I used the rail, sat on the rod, the whole 9 yards.
Also got 2 yellowtail over 40 pounds on the surface iron with a 9-foot rod and 50 pound line, which took a lot of cranking power!
It doesn't pull quite like a 1.6 to 1 big game reel that's been popped into low, but it does feels like about a 2.8 or 3.0 to 1 as far as power, which is pretty good.
Because of the disengaging pinon gear, it casts a bait, jig or wahoo bomb great.
It's more precise than the Baja Special, a little heavier and of course much more expensive.
The Baja Special gives that "old school" satisfaction while still having the modern internals.
You can also put the Torque's metal drag star on the Baja Special if you want.
It wasn't pinon gear issue, but a few Torque 300's did exhibit a problem when the angler over-loosened or over-tightened the left-side bearing adjustment to far beyond the normal 3 to 7/1000's.
This allowed the spindle to rub, ultimately deforming it after a few fish.
The simple engineering fix was to put in a positive "stop" on the bearing adjustment threads to keep it within the operating range.
This only happened on a half-dozen reels, and Penn took immediate care of it.
I have used both reels in a variety of ways on 700M's, 700H's, 765L's, 900M's and 900H's with 30, 40, and 50 mono and even straight 80 spectra in Alaska.

[Iron thrower]

I have the 300 and weather operator error or by design the pinon gear went on my on my last 10 day in Oct. I sent it in to Penn and they took care of the problem. Told me on a cpl had this problem. Up to that point I was slaying the fish. Has alot of cranking power and can handle fish I would guess way over #100 easy. I have 80# iz and a 50ft t/s. I would buy it over again.

Ray

[tunanorth]

Ironthrower,
Yes, I took part in a 1-hour conference call about your reel and a couple of others that went down at the same time.
Once the engineers had isolated the problem, the cause, and most importantly the simple fix, everybody breathed a sigh of relief.
I have not yet gotten a TRQ100 field-test model, but it should be the perfect size "IF" the albacore decide to bite this year.

[Steve K]

I'm not cheap, but I am thrifty. By carefully shopping around, I find some good deals on reels and have no problem buying used ones. I recently, for example, bought a Newell 533 5.5 from Corbett, and I'm sure looking forward to giving that a workout with the surface iron in June.

I also acquired a Baja Special from a well known tackle whore who had three of them all new in the boxes. I first used it on my ten day for fishing bombs for the wahoo and I managed three of them, no worries. It also lends itself well to fishing the yoyo iron. I did a job on those Colnett Yellowtail on the January Senor Tuna 2 day trip on the Pacific Voyager. Mine is spooled up with 65 lb Power Pro and topshotted with 50 lb. I like it!

[GUERO67]

Tuna North, can you tell us/me more about this positive stop for the Torque's. I just won pair of Torque's at PapaJ's SuperBowl party, and want them to act right. I don't mind if a "NEW" reels needs a tweak out of the box, just as long as I know ahead of time......and which one did you use on the 9ft to to the plug around?? I assume the 200, how was the clamp for cork tape??
thanks in advance TN

[tunanorth]

Guero67,
Chances are yours don't have the "stop", if you can loosen the bearing up quite a bit you don't have it.
If you keep the bearings adjusted to where there's total freespool, but no "slop" of the spool in the frame you'll be fine.
Kind of like the old-school way.
I put the TRQ200 on the 900M, and it throws a Tady 45 a very long way, topshotted with either 30 or 40, depending on your needs.
Putting the TRQ300 on a 900H and 50 pound is a beast of an outfit that I wouldn't want to hold and throw all day, but it very, very good with a 7X size jig for opportunistic use.
I'm 53 years old with a marginal shoulder, so if I can do it, it can't be that difficult.
I also like to use 100-yard topshots, to stay away from the connection, but with the 200 it comes fairly close with a favorable tailwind!
When using the TRQ300 on a cork tape rod, I actually use the metal rod clamp off a 16VSX, since I'm using 50 pound topshots and "stupid tight" drag settings.
I also have heat shrink installed.
With the TRQ200, the stock nylon/plastic clamp seems fine on heat shrink over cork tape, but I found the TRQ200 handle a little small, and switched it to a Baja Special handle.

[GUERO67]

Originally Posted by tunanorth

Guero67,
Chances are yours don't have the "stop", if you can loosen the bearing up quite a bit you don't have it.
If you keep the bearings adjusted to where there's total freespool, but no "slop" of the spool in the frame you'll be fine.
Kind of like the old-school way.
I put the TRQ200 on the 900M, and it throws a Tady 45 a very long way, topshotted with either 30 or 40, depending on your needs.
Putting the TRQ300 on a 900H and 50 pound is a beast of an outfit that I wouldn't want to hold and throw all day, but it very, very good with a 7X size jig for opportunistic use.
I'm 53 years old with a marginal shoulder, so if I can do it, it can't be that difficult.
I also like to use 100-yard topshots, to stay away from the connection, but with the 200 it comes fairly close with a favorable tailwind!
When using the TRQ300 on a cork tape rod, I actually use the metal rod clamp off a 16VSX, since I'm using 50 pound topshots and "stupid tight" drag settings.
I also have heat shrink installed.
With the TRQ200, the stock nylon/plastic clamp seems fine on heat shrink over cork tape, but I found the TRQ200 handle a little small, and switched it to a Baja Special handle.

Holy shit 53????? you better sit down That's almost as old as SteveK
Kiddin', thanks for the info...

I'll be sure to keep an eye out on the spool settings.
I figured that 200 could toss the plug a country mile....

I was thinking the same thing about the VSX clamp on the 300 too.
I was going to try fishing 40# for bait fishing the tuna, I have a feeling the 200 will make quick work of the 20-50# models huh? I like the Baja handle idea too, thanks

also a side note on the Baja's.....the metal star drag off the TQ200's looks like it's the same size as the BS?? Maybe it will fit on there to alleviate the problem with the BS's plastic one's from breaking????

[tunanorth]

Yes, the metal star off the TRQ300 fits the Baja Special perfectly, optional addition of the small washer #004-300T under the star adds another pound or two of drag.

[tunanorth]

Forgot to add some line capacity info, some variance of course depending on brands of line, installation style and personal preference on line level.
TRQ300:
300 yards 65-pound spectra/200 yard 40 pound mono tophsot
300 yards 65-pound spectra/140 yard 50 pound mono topshot
500 yards 65-pound spectra/10 yard 40 or 50 pound mono topshot

TRQ200:
300 yards 40-pound spectra/100 yard 30 pound mono topshot
250 yards 50-pound spectra/100 yard 40 pound mono tophsot
425 yards 50-pound spectra/10 yard 30 or 40-pound mono tophsot

[Denz]

We recently got the Torques in (first people in New Zealand)
Im disapointed
The drag isnt that impresive (compared to the hype and saltiga's) and wound right off there is still drag pressure on the spool