PENNWarfare Level Wind Conventional Fishing Reel (All Models & Sizes)

I have two. One for me and my wife. They are pretty solid reels and, for the money, they are fantastic. We have caught lots of big cats and hybrids and the reels have performed well. They cast pretty well when you need them to and the drags are stout, smooth and sure. The bait clickers are handy. Everything works as advertised. Just about what I'd expect from Penn. You can surely get a nicer reel, but you can't get one this solid for the same money. I have some 6500S Garcias that are inferior in most ways. I guess that is the closest apples to apples comparison I have. The S series Ambassedeurs are Garcia's cheapest version and they are just not the same caliber or weight class as these Penns. The C3's and 4's are much better quality reels, but at are near twice the price. I have tried some of the other "bargain" reels from China and from some other maker s and they all seem pretty cluncky in comparison. Id' say if you are looking for a stout reel for a reasonable price...with a good drag, instant anti reverse and a bait clicker these are the ticket.

Really great reel for the price if you are comfortable with baitcasters and want something a little beefier. This reel fits a really nice slot of being slightly heavier than the average bait casting reel, while not being so rediculously huge that you’ll look silly fishing for anything smaller than a marlin. After hours and hours of research, I paired this bad boy with a 2-piece kast king perigee heavy rod, and I would be shocked if you could find a better medium/heavy setup for under $100 (of course I did feel a little silly putting $50 of 30lb braid to put on my $50 reel, but that’s neither here nor there.). I really like the features this reel has like the level wind and clicker, without going too far with things like magnetic drag. If you’re looking for a workhorse that isn’t too fancy and don’t break the bank, I would not hesitate to recommend this. I would say you need to have a decent amount of practice with baitcasters to make this work, as knotting up a huge amount of heavy line is no fun. However once I figured out how to dial in the spool tension I can whip out a 2oz weight as hard as I want. Pro-tip: If I’m really launching it out there I like to tighten the spool so that line doesn’t come out unless I give the rod a slight shake.If you forced me to give some negatives, here is what I would say:-the spool tension knob really requires a good cranking down to get it to the tighter settings. With heavier weights it feel like the final 1/8 white knuckled turn takes it from free spooling to not dropping it all-very particular, but the clicker switch can be a little clumsy to engage as there is no way to tell by touch which way you need to slide it to turn it.Overall I would definitely recommend this reel for someone that has a little experience with baitcasters, is looking for something to pull in a nice sized fish, and doesn’t want to drop $200 on something that they aren’t sure really fits their needs better. I will likely be buying a second one.

Great real for the price the only little problem i had was the cliker went out on it after 3 or 4 trips but other than that it works great feels heavy duty. I use it for mostley offshore fishing caught 30 and 50 LB yellofin on it no problem. Great real for halibut as well live bait. Just a solid reel if it wasnt for the cliker wich is not that big of a deal for me but still a nit of a bumber i would of gave it a 5 star. But solid 4star reel. Penn dosnt disapoint

To start off with the bad. It's very simple, there's one issue I have with this reel and it's that I really don't like the large knob on the handle. I wish it were 1/2 the size it is and might look into replacing it down the line. Outside of that, this reel is exactly what I was looking for.I wanted a reel to do some walleye trolling and really dislike most of these kind of reels because, even if it's traditional, the handle is on the wrong side for right handed people. So finding a 15 size reel like this, with a line counter and with the handle on the left is difficult. I found this one and thought I'd give it a try. I'm glad I did because it's really great. (Disclaimer, I haven't taken this fishing yet, only attached it to the rod and spooled it up).One of the most underrated features of this reel is the auto engage when you star reeling. It acts like a normal reel in that sense. Again, this is a feature that isn't traditionally in these kind of reels and what sets it apart from the rest I've looked at. To be able to free spool and then reel to re-engage the crank is awesome.Most of the major parts on the reel are made of metal except the housing. And for a reel that's under $80, I'm fine with that. But even with the plastic housing, everything has the "feel" of being well made.It has a really positive clicker that you can turn on/off. And the line counter does what it's supposed to do.I just happen to have swooped in during a sale and got the reel for under $50. I gave this 5 stars because on a scale of value & performance, I'd be willing to bet you couldn't find a lower cost reel, with as many features, that costs in this rage. If this reel was $150 I wouldn't bat an eye spending that on it.