Intro and Penn Reel ?'s

[shootandfish1]

Hi Alan,  This site is a great resource.  Great job on narrative and pictures.  I've learned more about Penn reel maintenance  here than I could of ever dreamed of.  Thank you for sharing.

I'm Fred from central Kentucky, recently retired, and want to fish and camp as much as the bank account will allow.  I like Florida and plan to spend several months during the year there.  I mostly freshwater fish, but want to start saltwater fishing this year.

Just started looking at Penn reels and plan on buying some.   I like products that offer good value and service, more of  a 'Work Horse' and less of a 'Show Horse' type.

After lots of research, I'm looking at Penn Levelwinds- 310GT2's, 320GT2's, and 320LD (Leverdrag).   

I've already ordered a 310GT2, mainly to get started.  I know the 320GT2 is a 'better' reel, but I wanted a reel for smaller waters. Thinking 15-20#mono or 20-50#braid.

Hopefully, I will pick-up several more 310 and 320 reels over the next few months.

Other than the 'stigma' of reels made overseas, Have you seen enough evidence to form an opinion on the China made reels?

What differences (improvements?) between the current GT2 and the older GTi have you found?

I like the idea of the lever drag and the 320LD has 2 more ball bearings than the 320GT2's and is made in the USA according to Penn's 2010 catolog.  Comments?

Thanks - Fred

[alantani]

i'd avoid the lever drag penn gt's.  stick with star drag.  for smaller reels, look at the abu garcias.  alan

[richie668]

I only fish penn reels & swear by them,& have fished them for over 30yrs but the 310-340 series are over priced p.o.s.
a little better than the 9-309 reels. your better off with any other penn reel. [buy a senator]       

[shootandfish1]

Thanks for replying, all comments are appreciated, even the ones that aren't infavor. 

I got a single 310GT2 on order just to get the 'feel' of Penn reels.  This size will be a good fit for a lot of the freshwater fishing I currently do and will work well with my current rod collection.  Plans are to mount the 310GT2 on a 7' Ugly-stick, catfish model, load some old mono, and start casting.   As I  prepare for fishing bigger waters and saltwater, Peen 320 GT2's and more appropriate rods will be in order.  Hopefully, as my 'expertise' grows into off-shore, I'll move up to the 'higher-end' models.

Richey, I'm trying learn a whole new area of fishing, saltwater, and was wanting to start with levelwinds before preceding to more advanced equipment. Baby-steps

Alan, with your excellent tutorials and Penn's reputation for supplying parts, I can service and maintain my reels.  My attitude has always been that my shooting and fishing gear will be passed down to my nieces and nephews for a new generation to enjoy.  And not end up in the trash!!!

Several of the  GTi models are listed on Ebay and Craigslist, some new-in-box, at several dollars cheaper than the Gt2 models.   Hmmm!  I'm thinking that a NIB GTi's may be deal to make, but the guys on the catfishing forum at reporting that the GT2 is a better reel for casting distance.

Didn't mean to ramble so much.

Thanks again - Fred

[akfish]

I see lots and lots of 320s and 330s in my shop. The 320 is the most popular salmon reel in SE Alaska. They are OK but can have problems with the level wind (pretty mush all saltwater reels do) and the plastic frame will flex under load and cause the gears to misalign and go bad. That doesn't happen if you fish them within the limits, say 30# line or less. One thing to remember: The spool tension knob under the handle is not designed to be used as backlash control. It should always be set so that there is a tiny bit of side to side play i the spool. If it is too tight, you'll ruin the end bearings.

[richie668]

I did'nt mean to discourage anyone. I may be biast I just fixed a 320gt2 my buddy bought it in june 09. fished it till sept
rinsed with a hose after each trip.It looked brand new on the outside, was all green& barnicled up inside. pinion rusted to the spool,seized bearing,it needed all new springs,yoke,pinion, spacing sleeve.& a very expensive bearing. The reel has too much drag pressure for the wimpy
internal parts, a bad design on the tension knob under the star that loosens up when reeling jamming into the star, Maybe penn forgot to
put any type of grease in this reel. I guess what I learned from all of you guys is the most important time to maintain a reel is right out of the box before it sees any fishing. If it started out with grease in it This reel may have faired better. A jigmaster or 112h is a superior reel
for less $ and a time proven design.  Tight lines, Richie

[shootandfish1]

One thing to remember: The spool tension knob under the handle is not designed to be used as backlash control. It should always be set so that there is a tiny bit of side to side play i the spool. If it is too tight, you'll ruin the end bearings.

Thanks- Good to know info

[shootandfish1]

It looked brand new on the outside, was all green& barnicled up inside. pinion rusted to the spool,seized bearing,it needed all new springs,yoke,pinion, spacing sleeve.& a very expensive bearing. The reel has too much drag pressure for the wimpy
internal parts, a bad design on the tension knob under the star that loosens up when reeling jamming into the star, Maybe penn forgot to put any type of grease in this reel. I guess what I learned from all of you guys is the most important time to maintain a reel is right out of the box before it sees any fishing. If it started out with grease in it This reel may have faired better. A jigmaster or 112h is a superior reel
for less $ and a time proven design.  Tight lines, Richie

Which is exactly why I've refrained from buying used reels off Ebay.


? Are the factory shielded bearings serviceable ( lubed?) or is the intent to remove and replace when they go bad?   

[richie668]

I was told that an entire bridge assembly had to be ordered to replace the larger bearing.
  after mail ordering 2 wrong sized bearings.[my mistake] I ended up finding a new one at a local bearing manufacturer. There are very helpful postings on this site to help you maintain clean & save bearings.  Again, Sorry did'nt mean any discouragement to a fellow fisherman.  That 320 almost had me beat.    Richie   

[Jimmer]

Maybe take a look at the Okuma CV30L tutorial and read the comments afterward.

[Roger]

My son works on a research vessel out in the Gulf of Mexico. They keep about a dozen rod and reels onboard for customers and the crew has they're own. There are four of the 320's on the boat and I've taken the line guides and worm gears off all of them and plugged the holes with some small stainless screws, washers, nuts and a little RTV. No more corrosion and stripped worm gears. 15#'s of max drag and those little reels have taken a beat'n and no rounded off gear sleeves yet. some stainless sleeves will go in them as soon as Alan gets 'em made. Lots of 25 and 30# blackfin tuna and dolphin and there's been several UFOs that spooled 'em and they're still kick'n. I wish they'd fork over a little cash and let me put some good handles on them. Just thought I'd put my 2 cents in about those little reels.........

[shootandfish1]

Thanks for the comments. The more I surf the net, I'm finding just how low on the "knowledge" curve I am.

Richie-No harm, no foul, I have learned that in the end I learn from all input, maybe more from those who have a differing take on the subject at hand.

Jimmer-Re 'Okuma CV30l' - Not a bad notion, priced less than the GT2's.  How about customer service and part availablity?

Roger-Cool!!!

[Jimmer]

Okuma's parts availability and customer service are outstanding, they have done some repairs and sent parts to me free in the past. If you want an aluminum frame and 1 more ball bearing the catalina is a step up from the convector. They also have new reels with additional features out this year. Check their website  - okumafishing.com   I have been using okumas on the great lakes salmon trolling, they hold up well.

[akfish]

I'm sure Okumas do hold up well in the Great Lakes. But the models you mention have pretty serious corrosion issues in saltwater, at least the ones I see n my shop do. The new Okumas may be better but I have yet to see one.

[Jimmer]

I've bought a number of used saltwater okumas off ebay, the only corrosion issues i've seen is chrome peeling off the star drag (cosmetic),  corrosion of the eccentric and some problems inside drags on lever drags, all of which could have been prevented by a pre-use greasing.