Questions re Fathom and Squall

Started by thorhammer, April 01, 2021, 06:22:15 PM

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thorhammer

Hi all,

I am reshuffling my offshore stand and considering making my way into the 2000's :) by adding a couple Squalls or Fathom's.  Just digging into research of materials, drag, capacity- in all honestly, the stand I have now won't wear out, being Int's and Everols, but I have a few orphan rods and I'm looking to add a little flexibility around target species and techniques. These will used primarily trolling for mahi, wahoo, blackfin with once in a while sail, YFT, or cobia in the mix- nothing much over 75 lbs. Very likely the Squall single speed 60 will be a-plenty, strictly from a fishing perspective- looks similar to TLD 25, which lots of guys use in this fishery just fine. For durability sake, I may go with Fathom. It states metal body and side plates. Is this cast aluminum skin over graphite plates? Is the frame aluminum? The Squall 50 wide is pretty large- i dont need 900 yd of 50 mono, and for a reel that big I'd be tempted to put braid on it heavy enough where I 'd likely be out of capability of a graphite frame. Two speed is nice strictly for retrieving a WWB to check it, don't really need a low on these size fish. Already use a 30SW for WWB so single speed is likely fine.

This whittles down to a reel with maybe 300yds 80 lb braid and 50 mono topshot to fill, which gives me about 500 yds and is plenty, plus is in a nice sweet spot on the drag curve as far as I can see; 20-25 lbs is plenty and well more than I get on the Gen 1 20 and 30's i use that do nicely.


Recco? Will prolly come down to how much aluminum is actually in the Fathom. Unfortunately there aren't many of either around me close by to hold. These will go on 30-80 SU Tuna Sticks, most likely.

alantani

not a big fan of the fathoms.  i don't like the drag curve.  i much prefer the torques, regardless of the price.   :-\
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

Bill B

John, I haven't fished or spooled either of my Fathoms (25N2LD and 402LD) so I don't have an opinion yet.  Bill
It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

steelfish

many swear for the penn fathoms, I liked the drag star ones but not much the 40LD2, on high drag setting 15-22# (which is common here to avoid getting rocked) it binds, at least mine was "heavy" to crack and was using it 80% time on low speed to avoid the bending feeling on the cracking, maybe if you like to use it on low drag sets 8-14# it will work better.
since the problem wasnt the reel per se but the way we fish here I sold it and got me a factory tank  mak15Sea, its like a jigmaster with HULK power and 2 speed but with the price tag of 7 jigmaster  ;D, nothing wrong when compared to a FUll customized/upgraded jigmaster or 113h I have seen here.


The Baja Guy

Swami805

A lot of the San Diego fleet uses fathoms for rental/loaner gear and the get beat to death. I guess they hold up pretty well and have caught a ton of good size tunes. Good bang for the buck
Do what you can with that you have where you are

alantani

yeah, i know.  it's just that, if you take a really hard look at the entire drag profile, you will immediately see the difference between the fathoms and the torques. 
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

MarkT

I have a Fathom 25nld2 that I use for 40# and a Fathom 12 for 20#.  Really good reels, especially for the money.
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

gstours

I too have a fathom n25, w 50# tufline, fishing it a lot for the first year and so far no problems.
   Caught a ton of fish.  For the money 💰, hard to beat.....🐟🎣✅

Keta

Quote from: alantani on April 01, 2021, 09:27:02 PM
yeah, i know.  it's just that, if you take a really hard look at the entire drag profile, you will immediately see the difference between the fathoms and the torques. 

If you have the $ the Torque is a much better reel but 2x the price of a Fathom.  I had to sell a FTH25NLD2 and a leg to get the TRQ15XNLD2 but it was my bad leg. I really like the reel. 
Hi, my name is Lee and I have a fishing gear problem.

I have all of the answers, yup, no, maybe.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

thorhammer

Thanks folks! I'm having a reshuffle of the offshore stand, including building a planer rod, so I'm gonna chew on this feedback and lay out existing rods vs reels, and what the end applications will be.

Of note: I didn't see any feedback on the larger Squall sizes here....the little 15 has good surf cast following, basically taking up for the 525's, but I'm curious as to larger Squalls as well. The Squall 50 wide two speed costs more than a Fathom 60, tho bigger, but I think I'd want some metal in anything that size. 

MarkT

The Squall 15 is the same reel still sold in Europe as the 525 Mag.  They should've just kept the GS line here rather than renaming it Squall.
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

SoCalAngler

#11
I wouldn't buy a Squall unless I was fishing freshwater only. The Torques are soon going to leave Penn's line up to IMO. Penn has played around with the Torque line of reels since it came out, and never hit the nail on the head. Remember the 100's and 200's? Don't believe me? Just look at how many of the Torque's have left or were changed over the years.

Are they bad reels? Heck no. But, even Penn can't get them at a price point or design correct for other reels in the market today.