Fishing Reels

[SawyerTed]

If there's one thing I think about and want do more than sawmilling, it is fishing.  There are some others but...well, a man just doesn't talk about those. 

I'm in the process of evaluating my rods and reels because some are showing their age.  My trolling outfits are 20 years old.  Some of my surf outfits are nearly 35 years old. 

I've tried a few varieties of reels over the years.  I have a buddy who doesn't use anything but Shimano reels and several who buy whatever combo is on the bargain rack at the tackle shop.  For most of my fishing I use Penn reels and Abu Garcia Ambassadeur reels.    

I'm wondering if I shouldn't be considering some other reel manufacturers besides Penn when I begin replacing?  

4 Penn 4/0 Senators - 20 years old
6 Penn 209s - the oldest 4 are 20 years old
2 Penn Rivals - 2 or 3 years old
2 Penn Spinfisher 4500 - 12 years old
1 Penn Pursuit III - 1 year old
2 Penn Spinfisher 750s - 35 years old
2 Penn Spinfisher 7500s - 6 years old. 

I'm familiar with AVET and Penn International reels, $1,000 standup outfits won't pass the "kitchen test."

[sawguy21]

I have an old Penn on a bait casting rod that I inherited and have yet to use. The rest are Shimanos on ultra light spinning rods of various manufacture, a 3 lb rainbow is a handful on those. I really need to get out again once the high water drops.

[Unclefish]

Alot of the new reels you can get a way with half the size weight. Shimano for all my spinning. I have switched to accurate reels expense but well worth it for all my saltwater inshore fishing. And still have all my Penn Internationals for offshore fishing.. offshore jigging accurate 2speed amazing. Had a 215 bigeye tuna. And some 150 to 200 on bluefin on the accurate 2 speed reels


 

[Larry]

For trolling freshwater stripers I switched from Penns to Daiwa line counter reels.  Not that expensive a reel and they seem to work fine.

[YellowHammer]

I thick Accurate makes the best two speed lever drag reel on the market, but I also have some Shimano 2 speed and single speed lever drags and they are also amazing, but do t have quite the drag curve.  For star drags I've used pretty much everything, but it's hard to beat the Shimanos for pure smoothness, although I have burned a couple of them pit, such as the Torium models.  The newer Penn star drag reels are tough because they use stainless gears for strength, but feel like coffee grinders.  The Penn Senator series are bullet proof charter boat specials, and I give them to people on the boat who I want to be miserable, but still catch fish.    

The Penn spinning reels I have bought, maybe a half dozen from their biggest 9550 to their Battle are strong but are garbage as far as corrosion protection.  I prefer Shimanos for spinning but still use Penns, also.  

I've gone to braided line for most of my casting and bottom fishing rigs, but still use mono for trolling.  

Ambassadors are good reels, but for even light saltwater use, I burn them out pretty fast. For freshwater use, their are a tremendous number of options and currently my favorite casting reel is a DCS model with a little circuit card that electronically brakes the reel spool if it overspins prior to a backlash.  So I normally use zero backlash control in my baitcasting rigs, but some lures are just backlash monsters and they get thrown on the DCS. 

[SawyerTed]

It is easy to tie up several thousand dollars in a handful of rods and reels for saltwater fishing.  If I were tournament fishing and making money, it would be easier to justify outfits in the $1,000 range.  I'm thinking $600ish for trolling outfits.  Maybe I'll have to adjust my thinking. 

I'm going to have to shop in person to see what's going to suit my fishing and budget.  Whatever I pick is going to have to be the sort of gear to last and have a service program similar to Penn's.  I don't know the current minimum service charge at Penn.  The last time I sent some of my reels the cost was around $18 for basic clean and lube other parts and labor were extra. The Senators, 209s and 750SS have been to the Philadelphia Penn Service Center three or four times.  Seems like I averaged $25 or $30 per reel the last time including shipping/insurance and service.  Often repair parts amount to new drag washers.  The reels come back looking brand new.

Over the years I've gotten stellar customer service from Penn.  Here's just one example of several outstanding customer service experiences I had.  When I retired in 2015, I received the two Spinfisher 7500 spinning reels and two 10' surf rods as retirement gifts.  When I was installing one of the the reels on a rod, I dropped the reel on the garage floor. The body of the reel broke at the stem between the body and reel seat.  New reel and broken, you can imagine my disappointment.  I sucked it up and sent the reel for repair, I explained what happened and agreed to pay for repairs ($18 for disassembly and $27 for new reel body). Three days after Penn received my broken reel, I had a complete new replacement reel free of charge!

[sawguy21]

 8) Now that is customer service! I had a similar experience. The lens on my Otter phone case got scratched up and wouldn't polish out. They sent one free under warranty from somewhere near Denver CO, I paid a nominal shipping charge. 

[YellowHammer]

For me Penn is a blessing and a curse.  I really like their design, especially their spinning reels, and their drags are as good and smooth as anybody's.  However, their saltwater corrosion protection is very poor, and I don't have a single spinning reel where the stem doesn't have corrosion issues.  It looks like it's made of pot metal.  I have broken several bail springs and had handles break, the knobs come off, etc.  My brother laughs at me every time I buy another Penn.  He gave up in them many years ago.  Every time I go to the gulf, I stop at the reel repair tackle store to buy replacement parts.  I live the reels though, they just feel good and boy, they land the big fish. 

However, none are as smooth as an Accurate or even close.  These things are winches disguised as works or art.  They have a two speed transmission, can apply an incredible amount of drag instantly with the lever, and yeah, they are,expensive, but wow are they incredible. 

My Shimano two speed is also exceptionally smooth, but doesn't have the pound for pound drag system as an Accurate. 

Anyway, I love my Penns and I hate my Penns.  Oh well.  

[SawyerTed]

I have two models of Ambassadeur reels.  Two are 5500s and four are C3 6500s.  The 5500s have been used for fresh water mostly with a little sea trout, red fish and flounder fishing mixed in.  

The 6500s are exclusively used for catfish and stripers.

The round Ambassadeurs were the top if the line bait casters back in the mid 1980s when I got my first one.  My first one I purchased and the second one was a gift. I believe one of them was a 60 year anniversary model. I saw recently that the 100th anniversary models are sold out.

The 6500s have handled catfish up to 60 pounds without issue.  

[Larry]

About 22 years ago I bought property on Beaver Lake Arkansas and discovered big stripers.  At the time I had about 8 of the red 5000 Ambassadeur's.  Put em all on ebay and to my surprise most sold to bass fisherman in Japan.  Most of the time they would bring nearly enough to buy a new Shimano for bass or a 6500 for stripers.  I never could figure out why a bass fisherman in Japan would prefer a 5000 over a Shimano.

 

[YellowHammer]

I remember a buddy of mine, who was a very active fisherman, brought his favorite smallmouth spinning reel to the Gulf for one of our saltwater fishing trips.  When he told me it was his favorite freshwater reel, I told him he probably shouldn't use it because it probably wouldn't last the week.  He said he'd been using it for years, and he was fishing with it because it could take it.  OKdokey....

2 days later, after non stop king mackerel smoking our rigs, and a little combat red snapper fishing, during one particular tough amberjack fight, the graphite spool on his reel literally cracked into pieces and pretty much blew apart.  It was hilarious.  Luckily the line snapped and the look on my buddy's face was priceless.  

He was so mad that we went to the tackle store as soon as we got off the water and he got a Penn with an aluminum spool.  He still talks about it.  Great fun!.

[SawyerTed]

My son wanted to have a bachelor weekend at Cape Lookout National seashore.  It was a long weekend of fishing, camping and good fun.  

As gifts to his groomsmen, he bought surf fishing outfits for everyone.  They were nice looking Okuma 10' combos.  They were $40 specials from Amazon.  Some of them didn't last the weekend, I gave mine to one of the guys because his quit working.

On another trip, both me and a buddy "lost" reel handles off one of our surf outfits. We think someone took them.  When we stopped at a tackle shop to see if we could find handles. They had piles of dead reels accumulated over many years in business.  For my Penn  Spinfisher 750 it took 2 minutes to find and purchase one.  On the other hand, my buddy spent 30 minutes with the tackle shop guy trying handles to fit his discount special. 

[YellowHammer]

Saltwater fishing will stress tackle like nothing else.  I've had rods explode, reels lock up, handles fall off, gears strip teeth, and all kinds of stuff.  That is what makes it fun.

I love my freshwater fishing too, I go regularly, but its a different mindset, and requires different tackle.

[SawyerTed]

Mother Nature is hard on sporting goods.  These are photos of a carbon fiber rod struck by lightning on the beach.  Apparently the rod was left in a rack on the front of a truck/camper during a storm.  No humans or animals were harmed.

Cheap equipment doesn't hold up nor does high quality equipment under certain circumstances.

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[YellowHammer]

That is incredible!

[SawyerTed]

 Can you imagine sleeping in the truck camper and lightning strikes within 3 or 4 feet?

That reel is probably toast - talk about exploding!!!

[caveman]

Ted, first, I hope you are on the mend.  Second, I have used Penn Senato and Diawa SeaLine for my bigger levelwind reels for a long time.  Both are good but I think the Diawa reels may be a little better.  I have a plethora of Ambasedeur reels that I use for bass, snapper and trolling for grouper.  They are a little clunky compared to the modern levelwind reels, but they are what I like.  For spinning reels, I prefer the Penn Gold series or the Finor.  The Finor have amazing drags and will whip a big fish in a hurry if you have adequate line.  The Penn Golds have a super smooth drag and will also land good fish.  The red and black Penns (Battle, maybe) are what I give guests when fishing.  I won't cry if they get jerked overboard.  I have not fished intensively in a few years so this may be outdated.

[Poquo]

I like Shimano for spinning reels, the Penn Senators are hard to beat for the price you pay. I have one Avet 2 speed lever drag I like for deep dropping and jigging. For Bass and Snakehead fishing I use the Lews baitcasters that are under $100 they cast well once you get them dialed in. I used to use Penn spinning reels but gave up on them. Still use Ambassador 4500 thru 6500 that I've had for 40 years.

[terrifictimbersllc]

We use Daiwa Saltist reels for all our salt bottom fishing and inshore trolling. Wife uses HA-20 mostly then we have a half dozen HA-30 and several HA-40. Also have HA30 and HA40s with 10 or 20 colors 18# lead core for freshwater salmon/trout trolling which wife uses. I use an HA30 on the freshwater downrigger. Not too happy with newer Penn open face spinning reels since they went Chinese. Still use some 🇺🇸 penns for ultralight spinning. Guess were in market for a couple mid capacity spinning reels for salt water.