I have an old school 6/0 penn senator (black color).
I fish the keys every year in march and a big chunk of the fishing is for shark... I've primarily used relatively small reels (abu garcia 7000 and calcutta 400 with 225-350 yards of 50-65 pound braid) for mid sized to very nice black tips and lemon sharks. I've also been part of landing multiple 9' bull sharks and hammerhead up to 11' from canoes. I decided to pick up a 6/0 senator and would like to have the option of a heavier duty set up for use around bridges when we sleep at night with bait on or when in canoes in areas we consistently see 8' plus bulls and hammers. I realize a lot of guys use 9/0 senators on the low end for bridge fishing, but especially from the canoe it'd be so cumbersome to use 9/0 or 12/0 or bigger.... We really don't paddle out baits, we just cast or literally throw our baits out (for the senators that don't cast well, we peel line off by hand and swing it out there), so that saves a lot of line...
SO! wondering how you'd spool up a 6/0 senator as heavy as possible... Preferably i'd like to use straight mono but i don't know that i'd get enough on... how much 60 or 80 lb mono could i get on the 6/0 without any braid backing?
I read one post online where it looked like a guy ran 200 yards of 80 pound mono on top of 600 yards of 100 lb braid- that might be a good option... does that sound like it'd actually fit on a 6/0? i really appreciate any input!
My 6/0 is spooled with straight 80 lb mono , but thats my grouper set up. You could go with 600 yards of pp and a topshot of 80. But it could get pricey when youre looking at a large amount of braid. I would go straight 50 or 40 lb mono. You have enough capacity to land a good size fish and you have the added abrasion resistance. Youd be suprised what you can catch on 40 lb . My 9/0 is spooled with straight 50 lb and i trust it entirely. You just have to know how to work the fish without putting too much pressure on it.