Levelline 350

[Newell Nut]

Who knows the good and bad of these reels? Do the rotating bar work okay or do you still have to thumb the spool to lay the line down even?
I was thinking of getting one for my wife so she does not have to worry with thumbing while fishing her double rig.

[pcde123]

i think it does have a somewhat evening system, but probably not as reliable as a level wind, if u want a cheap reel, get a penn 209, REALLY CHEAP and alans got a tutorial on it sooo u dont ever have to worry about it having problems

[harryk3616]

try to loosen the left bearing cap a touch and the spool might turn a little easier

[George4741]

I also bought one for my wife, thinking the leveline feature would be ideal for her.  I can cast it better than any level wind and the rotating bar works well.  The downside:  many parts are almost non-existent and it uses Penn's smallest drag washers.  

[Newell Nut]

The small drag is not a problem. I am planning to install it on a large size sabiki pole for my wife to use for redeyes and black sea bass and then store the hooks easy. The reel and pole will arrive in a few days and will test next Saturday.
I bought a reel that has never been in salt water so it should be in very good condition internally.

[broschro]

The small drag is not a problem. I am planning to install it on a large size sabiki pole for my wife to use for redeyes and black sea bass and then store the hooks easy. The reel and pole will arrive in a few days and will test next Saturday.
I bought a reel that has never been in salt water so it should be in very good condition internally.

this is what i use mine for,And believe it or not I was using a 2 hook bait rig and and snagged a 30# cuda with the 350 and she handled it just fine with new greased ht 100s   

[Ron Jones]

3 HT-100s and a brass sleeve can handle 8 pounds of drag without issue. That should be more than enough for all but the biggest cudas and anything else you are liable to get on a sabiki rig. You can find 155 steel gears and a SS gear sleeve is available. This would let you fish more drag but it doesn't sound like you need it. I used to have a Japanese knock off and the twisted bar did in fact work as long as you kept the line tight to the bar. I had one rod with a stripper eye that was a little to tall and it wouldn't work with that reel.

Ron

[Newell Nut]

The way the line goes into the sabiki pole it will keep the line tight on the bar so it should spool good. Looking forward to testing it.

[CooldadE]

The biggest fish I ever caught was on a Penn Leveline 350. Six foot one inch and 135 Lbs. She had a 34" girth. I let her go to make more Sturgeon.

[Alto Mare]

I thought you were taking the dog for a walk . that's a nice fish! Good job  for letting her go to give someone else a thrill.

That reel has the 5-155 gear, these are some tiny washers:
https://www.mysticparts.com/PennParts/Parts/6-155SP.aspx
Says a lot about that reel. I'm putting together a few smaller reels for friends, with the 5-155 gears... nice reels.

"Edited as per Moderators to correct Scott's Bait & Tackle over to their new store name Mystic Reel Parts / www.mysticparts.com"

[CooldadE]

Yes tiny drags... Smaller even than the Levelmatic series reels. The 350 preformed great but as you could imagine I didn't press the issue. The fish jumped three times and came to the side of my skiff twice before running out of poop. To big to pull over the side so I pulled her in Marlin style...Over the transom. I use the 350 now for shallow water Rock Cod. I now use 112h reels for Sturgeon.

[txangler81]

What ever happened with this?