One thing i have been asked, is why do i favor NARROW width reels for fishing. This is a big question that cannot be answered with just a few quick answers, so i will try to give you a little background on why narrow width reels came about, and have become a favorite with many fishermen today.
HISTORY:
After World War II, Penn reels emerged as the dominant reel manufacturer in the world. They made many different size reels that covered basically all types of fishing. And as anyone who has bought parts for penn reels has seen, many of their parts were interchangeable between different reels in their product line. One reel that was Penns most popular, was the Squidder line. Their popularity was due to its being a excellent conventional reel for casting due to it having ball bearings. Penn, came out with three models, one standard, one midsize and one Junior or narrow width size. In the late 50s, along with the surfmaster line which had 3 similar sized models, and which was the bushing counterpart of the squidder line, the Jigmaster line came out. It had a full frame, and larger gears along with a faster retreive which was needed when a new technique for catching fish off party boats became popular. Penn then came out with a narrowed verison of the jigmaster, known as the jigmaster junior. For most fishermen this was as close as they came to buying a narrow reel, except for those who trolled, who had the option of buying the 149, 49 and 349 reels.
In the late sixties, Carl Newell who loved jigging and squidding on the long range boats, was starting to come out with aluminum kits to fit penn products. Carl loved fishing with his 500 sized reels, and came out with his first narrow kit to make the 501 & slighlty wider 99' sized jigmaster. But he needed a reel with a larger drag surface and a bigger gear train to fish for some of the bigger game fish which the long range fleet was targeting out of San Diego California. He developed his first narrow kit, called the YELLOW TAIL SPECIAL which was just a red Senator 4/0H that was narrowed to the size of the red Senator 3/0H (uses a 99/332 sized reel base). This was perfect for fishing 40lb test line. But he needed a reel for his favorite fish, the wahoo. At that time, the red 6/0H Senator was a popular reel for catching these fish, but it was heavy, and could not cast very well. He looked at the Penn reel line and found a narrow trolling reel, the 349 or SUPER MARINER. It had the gear train the size of a 9/0, but shared many components from the 4/0H red senator, and could cast reasonably well once the aluminum kit was added. He finally came up with the WAHOO SPECIAL which was width of jigmaster, yet the had the capacity of a 5/0 reel.
For years, the narrow sized newell kits for penn products were the only products avialable. They were extremely popular and very desirable to those who regularly fished.
In the late eighties, TIBURON a southern California machinist shop, came out with aluminum one piece frames and kits for Penn products. Tiburon noticing a popularity in the Penn 349 wahoo kit, and came out with a kit to narrow the Penn 6/0H senator. This gave fishermen the choice of using the 349 reel which had bushings, and the 6/0H which had bearings. It also gave the fishermen the option of having a true 6/0 gear train to tackle larger fish. ACCURATE another southern aerospace company, began making fishing products and later came out with a similar kit in many different colors.
In the mid to late 90s, with the popularity of Long Range trips out of Southern California growing, other tackle companies came out with their own narrow width versions of popular reels. Shimano (TRINIDADS) was one of the first, along with Diawa a few years later (Sealine X/Grandwaves and SALTIGAS).
One company which tried to copy newells earlier success with narrow framed reels, was Pro Gear, which made aluminum framed reels named after the original newell narrow width penn reels.
Newell came out with it own YTS and Wahoo special reel within its product line, with the 533-5.5 and the 631-4.2 reels. The 533 has a found its niche on the long range boats, but the 631 would not be described as being one of the more popular wahoo reels. Interesting, the 533 with the 4/0 sized gear train has become the popular reel for wahoo fishing!
WHAT MAKES NARROW WIDTH REELS POPULAR:
The narrow width 501/99, and later YTS and Wahoo versions caught on with many of the top fishermen who fished the long range boats in California. Specifically they did three things very well...they were much easier to cast, were lighter weight then the similar full framed models, and they were perfect for a popular technique for catching quick game fish, namely squidding. The narrow width spools combined with a greater spool height, made it much easier to squid jigs, for tuna, jacks, wahoo and bluefish. Along with the advent of lighter tackle, the narrow width reel was just the right combination due to its lightweight, and fishability.
One area where narrow width reels excelled over standard and wide width reel, was in casting small live baits. Since the narrow width reels spools were smaller then a standard widths, they were thus LIGHTER. A lighter spool is easier to cast then a heavier spool since it takes less 'energy' or initial inertia to get the spool moving. This was why the west coast anglers had such a strong affinity for the narrow spooled reels.
PROBLEMS WITH NARROW FRAMED REELS:
One thing that was common with narrow framed newell kitted reels, was that the spools would warp, and develop wobble. Anyone who has owned and has used 501, YTS and Wahoo newell spools, have seen their spools spread, thus rubbing on the inner plates, reducing casting distance and just becoming hard to fish with. Narrow spooled reels were usually overfished, with many fishermen loading their spools with heavier lines then the spools were made for. 501 spools would be loaded with 40lb test, YTS spools with 50 & 60 and wahoo spools with 80 & 100 lb test line. Due to the limited capacity of these spools, fishermen had to fish higher drag settings which placed more stress on their spools, causing the spreading of the spools. Many fishermen would use backing to protect these spools, but monofilament that was tightly wound of these spools and which left on for periods of time, would end up spreading these spools anyway.
Tiburon and Accurate saw this as a problem with the narrow newell 'pressed spools' (two halves that are put together with a special glue, and axle inserted), and came out with one piece spools made from aluminum billet. They are noticeably heavier, and do not cast as well, but the anodizing, balance, and overall strength of these spools make them a superior product when compared to the original newell spools.
One other problem that was noted with the Wahoo Special sized reels, that some fishermen felt due to the height of the spool and narrow reel width, that the reel was tippy when cranking. This is something to consider, if you have never used the wahoo special sized reels. I for one, have never felt this happen, but this point has been mentioned over the years as something to consider with this sized reel. Considering that this reel was specifically made for cranking jigs at a high rate of speed, this phenomenon may be more pronounced then with the smaller YTS sized reels.
ADVANTAGE GAINED TODAY WITH NARROW SPOOLS:
Since the mid nineties, new companies have sprung up developing super braids, and gel spun lines. This was the perfect solution for narrow width reels. The thin diameter of the super braids allowed a fishermen who feared being spooled on their narrow spooled reels, to pack unheard of amounts of line on their spools. Thus a fishermen could now pack these braids as a base, then could add a limited amount of monofilament. For narrow width reels, it led to these changes:
1)Less monofilament was used due to the super braid base.
2)Monofilament topshots in different pound tests, could be quickly and easily changed.
3)Shorter lengths of monofilament were discarded due to age and wear during a fishing season.
4)Cost savings due to using less monofilament line.
WHY I PREFER NARROW SPOOLED REELS:
I always enjoyed using narrow spooled reasons due to one reason in particular, its lighter weight when compared to their full size counterparts. I felt that i if i had to go beyond the midsize model in say the newell 300 series line, which would be the Albacore Special size, i would make the jump to the next level, that being the 4/0 YTS size. And if i needed a reel larger then a YTS the Wahoo size fit the bill perfectly. One other lessor factor was that i was wasting less monofilament over a season. When blackfishing, we would use a short mono leader and went right to our gel spun backing. You would be able to quickly put on a new premeasured topshot when the line got abraided. You would just cut off the whole short section of monofilament, and pull out and put on the new mono leader. When squidding and jigging here in the NY BIGHT, the narrow reels cast so well and held enough line for bluefish and striped bass fishing, whether working a lure or fishing live bait. Control in working your jig is much easier using a 501 jr. jigmaster then when using the full framed 500 jigmaster.
NEW TECHNOLOGY:
Reel manufacturers have seen that this section of the reel market has become very popular. And thats where we now see companies now making smaller sized reels with larger gears and calling them YTS or Wahoo Special reels. Accurate with their BOSS 665 magnum line of reels, just narrowed the full framed 665 reels and used this terminology to describe those reels. Pro Gear has done something similar with a number of reels in their product line that can be called YTS/Wahoo/Albacore special size reels due to their larger gears and narrow frames. Shimano with their Trinidad line, has a reel that can be described as being a hybrid of the YTS/Wahoo special reel, that being the Trinidad 40. This reel can be described as having the oversized gear train of a Wahoo special, yet having a spool capacity similar to the YTS.
TWO SPEED WAHOO SPECIAL?
EVEROL reels, a high end ITALIAN manufacturer of big game reels, has come out with a narrow framed 6/0 sized reel, which is something unique in big game reels. Penn reels which set the standard as far as coming out with definitive sizes for their big game International reels, had one true narrow reel, that being the 20 international, which has the guts of a penn international 30, combined in a narrower package. Everol seems to have taken this one step further, and come out with a beautifully gold framed, one piece model that would be similar in size to a shortened 6/0 penn senator, but able to put out 30 lbs of drag! And later in the year, this reel will have a auto-shift feature, somewhat akin to Tiburons smart shift.
This finally gives anglers a choice of a high quality 2 speed narrow width big game reel.
As you can see, the narrow width reels have many advantages when compared to the fuller sizes counterparts. But its a choice that you have to make whether you are comfortable using these reels. I for one would not leave the dock without them.
EC NEWELL MAN*
(This post edited by EC NEWELL MAN on 02/17/2003)
HISTORY:
After World War II, Penn reels emerged as the dominant reel manufacturer in the world. They made many different size reels that covered basically all types of fishing. And as anyone who has bought parts for penn reels has seen, many of their parts were interchangeable between different reels in their product line. One reel that was Penns most popular, was the Squidder line. Their popularity was due to its being a excellent conventional reel for casting due to it having ball bearings. Penn, came out with three models, one standard, one midsize and one Junior or narrow width size. In the late 50s, along with the surfmaster line which had 3 similar sized models, and which was the bushing counterpart of the squidder line, the Jigmaster line came out. It had a full frame, and larger gears along with a faster retreive which was needed when a new technique for catching fish off party boats became popular. Penn then came out with a narrowed verison of the jigmaster, known as the jigmaster junior. For most fishermen this was as close as they came to buying a narrow reel, except for those who trolled, who had the option of buying the 149, 49 and 349 reels.
In the late sixties, Carl Newell who loved jigging and squidding on the long range boats, was starting to come out with aluminum kits to fit penn products. Carl loved fishing with his 500 sized reels, and came out with his first narrow kit to make the 501 & slighlty wider 99' sized jigmaster. But he needed a reel with a larger drag surface and a bigger gear train to fish for some of the bigger game fish which the long range fleet was targeting out of San Diego California. He developed his first narrow kit, called the YELLOW TAIL SPECIAL which was just a red Senator 4/0H that was narrowed to the size of the red Senator 3/0H (uses a 99/332 sized reel base). This was perfect for fishing 40lb test line. But he needed a reel for his favorite fish, the wahoo. At that time, the red 6/0H Senator was a popular reel for catching these fish, but it was heavy, and could not cast very well. He looked at the Penn reel line and found a narrow trolling reel, the 349 or SUPER MARINER. It had the gear train the size of a 9/0, but shared many components from the 4/0H red senator, and could cast reasonably well once the aluminum kit was added. He finally came up with the WAHOO SPECIAL which was width of jigmaster, yet the had the capacity of a 5/0 reel.
For years, the narrow sized newell kits for penn products were the only products avialable. They were extremely popular and very desirable to those who regularly fished.
In the late eighties, TIBURON a southern California machinist shop, came out with aluminum one piece frames and kits for Penn products. Tiburon noticing a popularity in the Penn 349 wahoo kit, and came out with a kit to narrow the Penn 6/0H senator. This gave fishermen the choice of using the 349 reel which had bushings, and the 6/0H which had bearings. It also gave the fishermen the option of having a true 6/0 gear train to tackle larger fish. ACCURATE another southern aerospace company, began making fishing products and later came out with a similar kit in many different colors.
In the mid to late 90s, with the popularity of Long Range trips out of Southern California growing, other tackle companies came out with their own narrow width versions of popular reels. Shimano (TRINIDADS) was one of the first, along with Diawa a few years later (Sealine X/Grandwaves and SALTIGAS).
One company which tried to copy newells earlier success with narrow framed reels, was Pro Gear, which made aluminum framed reels named after the original newell narrow width penn reels.
Newell came out with it own YTS and Wahoo special reel within its product line, with the 533-5.5 and the 631-4.2 reels. The 533 has a found its niche on the long range boats, but the 631 would not be described as being one of the more popular wahoo reels. Interesting, the 533 with the 4/0 sized gear train has become the popular reel for wahoo fishing!
WHAT MAKES NARROW WIDTH REELS POPULAR:
The narrow width 501/99, and later YTS and Wahoo versions caught on with many of the top fishermen who fished the long range boats in California. Specifically they did three things very well...they were much easier to cast, were lighter weight then the similar full framed models, and they were perfect for a popular technique for catching quick game fish, namely squidding. The narrow width spools combined with a greater spool height, made it much easier to squid jigs, for tuna, jacks, wahoo and bluefish. Along with the advent of lighter tackle, the narrow width reel was just the right combination due to its lightweight, and fishability.
One area where narrow width reels excelled over standard and wide width reel, was in casting small live baits. Since the narrow width reels spools were smaller then a standard widths, they were thus LIGHTER. A lighter spool is easier to cast then a heavier spool since it takes less 'energy' or initial inertia to get the spool moving. This was why the west coast anglers had such a strong affinity for the narrow spooled reels.
PROBLEMS WITH NARROW FRAMED REELS:
One thing that was common with narrow framed newell kitted reels, was that the spools would warp, and develop wobble. Anyone who has owned and has used 501, YTS and Wahoo newell spools, have seen their spools spread, thus rubbing on the inner plates, reducing casting distance and just becoming hard to fish with. Narrow spooled reels were usually overfished, with many fishermen loading their spools with heavier lines then the spools were made for. 501 spools would be loaded with 40lb test, YTS spools with 50 & 60 and wahoo spools with 80 & 100 lb test line. Due to the limited capacity of these spools, fishermen had to fish higher drag settings which placed more stress on their spools, causing the spreading of the spools. Many fishermen would use backing to protect these spools, but monofilament that was tightly wound of these spools and which left on for periods of time, would end up spreading these spools anyway.
Tiburon and Accurate saw this as a problem with the narrow newell 'pressed spools' (two halves that are put together with a special glue, and axle inserted), and came out with one piece spools made from aluminum billet. They are noticeably heavier, and do not cast as well, but the anodizing, balance, and overall strength of these spools make them a superior product when compared to the original newell spools.
One other problem that was noted with the Wahoo Special sized reels, that some fishermen felt due to the height of the spool and narrow reel width, that the reel was tippy when cranking. This is something to consider, if you have never used the wahoo special sized reels. I for one, have never felt this happen, but this point has been mentioned over the years as something to consider with this sized reel. Considering that this reel was specifically made for cranking jigs at a high rate of speed, this phenomenon may be more pronounced then with the smaller YTS sized reels.
ADVANTAGE GAINED TODAY WITH NARROW SPOOLS:
Since the mid nineties, new companies have sprung up developing super braids, and gel spun lines. This was the perfect solution for narrow width reels. The thin diameter of the super braids allowed a fishermen who feared being spooled on their narrow spooled reels, to pack unheard of amounts of line on their spools. Thus a fishermen could now pack these braids as a base, then could add a limited amount of monofilament. For narrow width reels, it led to these changes:
1)Less monofilament was used due to the super braid base.
2)Monofilament topshots in different pound tests, could be quickly and easily changed.
3)Shorter lengths of monofilament were discarded due to age and wear during a fishing season.
4)Cost savings due to using less monofilament line.
WHY I PREFER NARROW SPOOLED REELS:
I always enjoyed using narrow spooled reasons due to one reason in particular, its lighter weight when compared to their full size counterparts. I felt that i if i had to go beyond the midsize model in say the newell 300 series line, which would be the Albacore Special size, i would make the jump to the next level, that being the 4/0 YTS size. And if i needed a reel larger then a YTS the Wahoo size fit the bill perfectly. One other lessor factor was that i was wasting less monofilament over a season. When blackfishing, we would use a short mono leader and went right to our gel spun backing. You would be able to quickly put on a new premeasured topshot when the line got abraided. You would just cut off the whole short section of monofilament, and pull out and put on the new mono leader. When squidding and jigging here in the NY BIGHT, the narrow reels cast so well and held enough line for bluefish and striped bass fishing, whether working a lure or fishing live bait. Control in working your jig is much easier using a 501 jr. jigmaster then when using the full framed 500 jigmaster.
NEW TECHNOLOGY:
Reel manufacturers have seen that this section of the reel market has become very popular. And thats where we now see companies now making smaller sized reels with larger gears and calling them YTS or Wahoo Special reels. Accurate with their BOSS 665 magnum line of reels, just narrowed the full framed 665 reels and used this terminology to describe those reels. Pro Gear has done something similar with a number of reels in their product line that can be called YTS/Wahoo/Albacore special size reels due to their larger gears and narrow frames. Shimano with their Trinidad line, has a reel that can be described as being a hybrid of the YTS/Wahoo special reel, that being the Trinidad 40. This reel can be described as having the oversized gear train of a Wahoo special, yet having a spool capacity similar to the YTS.
TWO SPEED WAHOO SPECIAL?
EVEROL reels, a high end ITALIAN manufacturer of big game reels, has come out with a narrow framed 6/0 sized reel, which is something unique in big game reels. Penn reels which set the standard as far as coming out with definitive sizes for their big game International reels, had one true narrow reel, that being the 20 international, which has the guts of a penn international 30, combined in a narrower package. Everol seems to have taken this one step further, and come out with a beautifully gold framed, one piece model that would be similar in size to a shortened 6/0 penn senator, but able to put out 30 lbs of drag! And later in the year, this reel will have a auto-shift feature, somewhat akin to Tiburons smart shift.
This finally gives anglers a choice of a high quality 2 speed narrow width big game reel.
As you can see, the narrow width reels have many advantages when compared to the fuller sizes counterparts. But its a choice that you have to make whether you are comfortable using these reels. I for one would not leave the dock without them.
EC NEWELL MAN*
(This post edited by EC NEWELL MAN on 02/17/2003)
