Lived in Houston in '68, eighth grade. Bought this and used it for two years around Galveston. Moved and I have not used it since. We will be at gulf in Aug. so I cleaned her up and removed old line. Line types have changed a lot in 40 years. I want to put on 30-50 lb test, +/-.

So, a little help with suggestions would be appreciated.
Mono, rayon, or others???? I mostly will use this rig from the bank and surf.

Thanks.

Terry

You won't get the capacity using 50. I had 20lb mono on mine if you want stronger line use braid you can put 30 or 50 no prob.. You can back it with mono or wrap medical tape on the spool then spool up with braid. It stops the braid from sliding.

20 lb mono is all you need, can bring in some pretty big fish with that setup.

Thanks for the input.

20 lb big game. Braid and a old 209 probably wouldn't end well.

Those level wind reels are strong reels, but if you have too heavy of line and the drag cranked down, you can twist or torque the reel, this misalignment will cause the intermediate gear to strip out.

It's a common problem. Especially when the gear has some age on it. It is a sacrificial gear, designed to strip out if something gets caught in the level wind.

Keeping around 20 to 30lb max on these reels is a very prudent idea.

I agree with the above advice. I got one that pushing 40 years old. Finally had it rebuilt this year and is as good as new. 20-25 mono is all I have ever put on it and its lanced some pretty big fish over the years. Big Game is a good line for the money.

A few years ago I ran into some quality control issues with Big Game, and got a couple bad spools, recently though the few spools I have bought have been very good, so I am going to assume that they got the QC straightened out.

Ande Premium is another good line for that Penn, btw.