Top selling reel of all time

[bluefish69]

I still have my 306 works great to this day.

Mike

[erikpowell]

Doc Janssen, that's why I look forward to your postings. Top notch intel.

and Bryan i think you whittled it right down to the two contenders for the benchmark..imho

i wonder whose ear you'd need at Abu or Penn to get reliable figures for # of units sold for each series..accurate ones.. do you think they could really tell you ..old school bookkeeping considered... ?? 

[0119]

I cant see a Penn holding this honor.  Best selling or most popular reel of all time?  Off shore boat and surf fishing is only one nitch in the fishing world. You forget every other type of fishing.  All combined they swallow up the fishing style a Penn reel is for.  Abu 5000, Zebco 33, Mitchell 300 or perhaps some disposable cheap Shimano spinner for sure.

[Robert Janssen]

Yes 0119, but Erik specified the exclusion of such reels in his original post. I just added them for comparison and completion of info. But yes, those are by far the most sold reels ever, with official recognition towards the Mitchell, closely followed by Zebco.

Anyway Erik, yes- there are some folks around at both Penn and Abu who should know that. The sales and market manager at Abu is a really nice guy, and so is the former CEO at Penn. Really though, they often refer to some of the well recognized collectors, who after all are the ones who a)really are interested, and b)have the time and energy to compile such things.

And yes of course, one could contact them and see what they have to say. At least just generally. I feel bad about putting people to work just for the hell of it.

.

[Dawn]

Just as a "this is kind of interesting" thing.  Top 3 sellers since I've had Carbontex, drag set for Abu C3's C4's etc,  Trinidad 16/20/30, Calcutta 200 and other reels that use that drag, which are several. 
Penn probably does have it, just with them coming with carbon fiber I just don't sell as many drags.

Dawn

[Shark Hunter]

Dawn,
I want to say this in the kindest way possible, so please do not get offended.
I think you could sell a whole lot more penn drags if they were easier to find on your website.
Scotts sells complete kits with the washers and drags. The get a lot of business from me on the larger senator drags that you do not carry.
I think if you sold the HT-100's in kits more easily found on your site for the smaller senators, mainly the 113h and 114h you would be surprised.
Please consider this constructive criticism. That's just the way I see it.

[Dawn]

No problem Shark hunter, however I think mostly the problem is price regarding Penn, I just can't sell at the price they do.
They apparently pay a lot less for carbon fiber than I do.
Either that or they make no money on drags, which I'm pretty sure isn't the case 
I am trying to improve the website, slow going.

Dawn

[Shark Hunter]

Whew!
I'm glad you took that well. I know you are well respected around here and did not want to make any waves. I just received an order from scotts I paid almost $300 for. It consisted of a 12/0 aluminum spool and a small bag full of drag kits from 114 to 116 and a few other goodies. I hope we can keep this in the loop. I wonder if they make these custom kits in house? I just want to see you do good Dawn.
You put up with us, that deserves a Medal all by itself!

[aus bass]

Penn have decent reels but they're not as popular outside the US and most US people think.......Here in Australia we rarely see Penn conventional reels, we see the odd Penn threadline (Spinfishers) but nothing of significance.

My vote would have to be the Abu Ambassador.

[Bunnlevel Sharker]

Penn is a us company mainly it seems to me. The Australian shark guys seem to like tiagras

[shanara]

tld20/25 (33917 views  ) been arround for over 20 years

cant get on a fishing boat without falling over a few (I cant even open a drawer at home without one falling out)  must be millions of them all over the world

(having said that every grown up angler in the uk had a mitchell 300 as soon as they could afford one when I started fishing 50 years ago and there were 3 million anglers in the UK at that time or was it 6 million?)

Regards Gary

[CapeFish]

Penn is a us company mainly it seems to me. The Australian shark guys seem to like tiagras

We are a small market, but maybe there are similarities with Australia, Penn lost lots of market share many years ago (possibly due to sanctions but maybe also because of not bringing in new models). Abu followed a similar route, but was more likely due to a lack of availability and price.  Shimano is now extremely popular here and Daiwa is probably not far behind. Take into consideration that there is no "patriotic" brand loyalty, all our reels are imported, so people use what gets the job done and what is available. We also do not have any after market pimping parts available for Penn and those would in any case not make any financial sense from a pure fishing application perspective.

[Alto Mare]

Penn is a us company mainly it seems to me. The Australian shark guys seem to like tiagras

We are a small market, but maybe there are similarities with Australia, Penn lost lots of market share many years ago (possibly due to sanctions but maybe also because of not bringing in new models). Abu followed a similar route, but was more likely due to a lack of availability and price.  Shimano is now extremely popular here and Daiwa is probably not far behind. Take into consideration that there is no "patriotic" brand loyalty, all our reels are imported, so people use what gets the job done and what is available. We also do not have any after market pimping parts available for Penn and those would in any case not make any financial sense from a pure fishing application perspective.

Having parts availability on a 60+ year old reel that has proven itself year after year, is not a bad thing.
This isn't just about surf fishing.
From reading some of your past posts, I have a good idea of the gear that you use, those could be used for both, send those babies over and lets put them on a charter for the season, next to my old penns and see how far they get .
For that type of fishing here in the NE I have no doubts that the older penns will shine . Btw, I can build you a tank for around $200, your cheapest is probably $350.  let me know if you're ever going to get on a boat one day and I'll send one over.
As for bringing in more models, Penn is up there, maybe more than others lately, but that doesn't excite me much.
I'll keep playing with my older reels.
Cheers!
Sal

[CapeFish]

Penn is a us company mainly it seems to me. The Australian shark guys seem to like tiagras

We are a small market, but maybe there are similarities with Australia, Penn lost lots of market share many years ago (possibly due to sanctions but maybe also because of not bringing in new models). Abu followed a similar route, but was more likely due to a lack of availability and price.  Shimano is now extremely popular here and Daiwa is probably not far behind. Take into consideration that there is no "patriotic" brand loyalty, all our reels are imported, so people use what gets the job done and what is available. We also do not have any after market pimping parts available for Penn and those would in any case not make any financial sense from a pure fishing application perspective.

Having parts availability on a 60+ year old reel that has proven itself year after year, is not a bad thing.
This isn't just about surf fishing.
From reading some of your past posts, I have a good idea of the gear that you use, those could be used for both, send those babies over and lets put them on a charter for the season, next to my old penns and see how far they get .
For that type of fishing here in the NE I have no doubts that the older penns will shine . Btw, I can build you a tank for around $200, your cheapest is probably $350.  let me know if you're ever going to get on a boat one day and I'll send one over.
As for bringing in more models, Penn is up there, maybe more than others lately, but that doesn't excite me much.
I'll keep playing with my older reels.
Cheers!
Sal

Sal,

My post has nothing to do with surf casting. What happened with Penn in our country was across all fishing sectors. There simply was not a good enough agent (plus no new models introduced at a time when Shimano and Daiwa were pushing out new metal and graphite framed reels) and this may have been due to sanctions, but the situation did persist until very recently, which does seem to indicate that we just never had a decent agent. For many years they simply ruled the saltwater sector, it changed though in probably the '80s. It is great to have parts available for old reels and even greater to have those older reels still available. It means the basic design of the star drag multiplier is solid and has not changed much bar some tweaks (often more cosmetic than anything else). I am in no doubt whatsoever that any of your converted reels will perform exceptionally and many of the old Penns will do so in standard form. If I had to choose between a standard jigmaster and a standard 20/40 for the fishing I do, unfortunately I will take the 20/40 every time.

There is a large enough number of anglers in the US that love old model Penn reels and this thus means that there will be enough buyers for after market frames and other spares. We simply do not have that hobbyist culture on a large enough scale, hence we do not get any of the stuff you guys have.

But getting back to the best selling reel, surely there must be a figure somewhere?

[kmstorm64]

I would say the Some of Penns would be fare contenders, as some of them were made from the the late 1930's all the way to early 2000's.  A 60 year run on a given model is hard to beat.  Europenas tend to be very national, and when I was stationed there, I was a ton of Diawa's and DAM's (or something like that), and little else.  But that was all freshwater stuff.  As long as parts are around, old Penns will live forever, can't say the same for other brands.