New to PENN:Just got a PENN 309, is this one old? Any tips? (PICS)

[cabrego]

Greetings, I just got a 309 from my dad yesterday. I believe it is an older model but I am not too familiar with PENN reels.  If you could give advice on what I should do to it before operating it please let me know.  Excited to get this baby on a rod and start fishing.

[akfish]

If it came with the rubber knobbed handle, it's not too old -- maybe 90s at the earliest -- but if the handle a a replacement, it may be older. The 309 is a nice level wind reel if you keep the drag under about 8 pounds. People up here use them for salmon; those who try them for halibut find their reels fried pretty quickly.

[Keta]

Put a bunch of Dacron or Spectra on the spool under the mono to prevent it from spreading.

They work for lingcod, smaller halibut, and are a fairly good king salmon reel.

[cabrego]

Thanks for the info, I take it there is no way to determine the age of the reel?  Whoever had it before me removed the level wind, is this a problem?  I'd like to clean up the insides a bit just to make sure it is in good working order but I don't want to end up with a bunch of parts left over if you know what I mean

[cabrego]

Well I went ahead and took it apart, cleaned her up and am waiting for a new dog spring, and a drag washer kit.   Everything looked pretty decent but figured I might as well replace the tired spring and the drag washers while I was there.

[Newell Nut]

It will run just fine without the level wind. I put new drags in one on the party boat with no level wind and a guy won the jackpot with a big mangrove snapper first day back on the boat.

[VW]

With the side plates being that dark color and that spool, it is an old one.  A stainless steel spool was used for a few years, aluminum spool is used now and readily available. Nice save of a classic Penn reel.

[harryk3616]

lube it up, and enjoy it, maybe plug up the holes where the worm gear went to keep water out, '' fish  on  ''