I grabbed a Penn 712Z on a 7 foot custom rod this morning and threw some lures at the mangroves this morning...didn't catch a dang thing and almost froze to death in the 55 degree air temp but I was reminded of how smooth a well-cared-for Penn spinner can be. I may take the 710 Greenie out tomorrow...
Both of these reels came from a "bucket o' reels" I bought on marketplace a couple of years ago for $130...got close to 20 working reels out of it and a whole winter of tinkering...TONS of Mitchell 300 variants that I sold, 3 DAM Quicks, kept the Penns, the DAM Quicks and a couple of Mitchells along with a tiny Compac Bantam III that I have fished a couple of times.
I love those Spinfishers. I have at least three in every generation from 1 to 6 except gen 4. 15 in total 716Z thru 10500 SSVI. I still think the Spinfishers have always been the best bang for the buck in Penn spinning reels.
I've recently become interested in Quick rotor cup reels but having trouble filling that dance card.
I keep trying to narrow my focus, but it never seems to work...Shakespeare spinners, 1959-1978ish and a few Bretton spinners...and a newfound appreciation for Penns...and a Luxor here and there, and the list goes on and on.
Yup, on and on and on....most of what you said....Penn, Mitchell, Berkley, Zebco, Southbend, D.Q, Luxor....no Bretton....Daiwa, OMG. I don't understand my passion for rotor cup spinning reels. Does anyone know of a 12 step program?
At the risk of creating havoc in your life, you need to try some Bretton and Zangi...very similar structurally.
I'm intrigued by just about any worm gear driven spinning reel and appreciate them all, and quite a few others to boot, but I'm fascinated by the exceptional quality and simple drag adjustment of the ABU, Zebco and ABU Garcia fulcrum drag spinning reels from the '60s, '70 & '80s. They're excellence is so unique that I can't force myself to seriously fish any other style of spinner. 👍 😁
Tommy, I have never owned a rear-drag spinner. The prices, especially on the little Cardinal 3's makes my eyes water too. One of these days I'll have to try one, see what all the fuss is about.
Like Tom sez, the Worm-Drive spinning reels from the early 50's to late 80's with metal bodies and robust gearing and material selection —- are all very good reels.
There are a lot of good reels in this category. The problem for me is that if parts are not readily available, it doesn't matter how good a reel is —- when it breaks —- it instantly becomes a shelf queen.
I have been fortunate enough to be able to amass hundreds of thousands of new old stock parts for DQ, Penn, ABU/Zebco Cardinals, and Mitchell spinning reels (even though they are not worm-driven, they are excellent reels) over the last 40+ years, by buying out closed tackle operations and 10 of 11 regional distributors, in the case of DQ.
The reels I work on to restore are hopefully meant to get back out on the waters.
The Penn Spinfishers in green or black are certainly some of the best spinning reels ever produced. And they are smooth and bulletproof.
If parts were available for some of the others like Shakes, Alcedo, Bretton, Zangi, and other "golden age" spinners —- they would be on my list also.
However the reality is that to fix or restore a reel with little, or no parts availability —- to me, just doesn't work. Too much time is spent trying to source parts, donor reels, postage, shipping, different individuals, expensive parts, and on and on.
Everyone works a little differently, and has different expectations and needed results — for me I just take the road less traveled by most reel techs — and it has worked pretty well.
So I just stick to my little corner niche of working on DQ, Penn, Cardinals, plus Mitchell spinners for folks who want top quality results to fish with in both function and near new appearance —- without breaking the bank.
Best, Fred
Great points Fred! I don't mind scrounging parts for my own reels but I'd lose my mind doing that for paying customers.
I was trolling ebay the other night and stumbled on a really cheap 710 Greenie, which arrived over the weekend. Just starting to clean it up, but so far it seems very nice.
Looks really good!
Best, Fred
David one thing I check on Greenies is how good the emblem is glued on.I take a plastic spudger or something that wont scratch the paint & see if the badge pops off easy,probably would get lost.If it does.I polish it with mothers mag polish & a brass brush in my dremel tool as slow as it will go. Then"shoe goo" it back on,straight & not upside down
:D
While not fulcrum-drag types, or worm-gear driven, there are some cheap graphite-composite rear drag reels out there. Shimano had a few lines/models. Kinda nice to work on a reel that you don't mind ruining accidentally. If it makes it through the dis/re-assembly fun then it's a good kid reel.
Quote from: jgp12000 on April 27, 2026, 06:38:34 PMDavid one thing I check on Greenies is how good the emblem is glued on.I take a plastic spudger or something that wont scratch the paint & see if the badge pops off easy,probably would get lost.If it does.I polish it with mothers mag polish & a brass brush in my dremel tool as slow as it will go. Then"shoe goo" it back on, straight & not upside down:D
James reminded me of a time around 10 years ago.
One of our elderly members (like me) who is unfortunately no longer with us —- needed a Penn brass emblem for a greenie 716 ultralight reel.
Now, these are nearly non-existent or unobtainable without robbing one off of a donor reel.
So I had a loose side plate with a decent brass emblem. Offered to send the whole deal to him for $8. A couple of weeks later, I received the sideplate back in the mail with an explanation —- "since I didn't need the plate, I just pried off the brass emblem —- hope you don't mind. Here is the sideplate back. Thank You".
He never paid me, even for postage —- and I just laughed it off and tossed the sideplate back into the Penn parts bins. Not a big deal, and he probably thought what he did was OK.
And by the way —- prior to January of this year (4 months ago) a small USPS Priority box from California to Florida, cost about $14 something. Then it went up to $19.95 —- a 25% increase. Now, as of yesterday, 4/26, it is going up another 8%, minimum. And our local postmaster, Karen, said there is more to come. Stay tuned!
A lot of times, I would buy something on Amazon or e-Bay (some small item like a phone holster, or similar) —- for maybe $8. I would always look for free shipping. That may be a thing of the past with many sellers. Kind of hard to sell a $5 item, and eat $6 in shipping charges.
Now, I know that many items with free shipping, particularly e-Bay —- offer free shipping —- but the pricing is padded upwards to reflect that in most cases. But, the "times they are a changing".
With Amazon, we pay a yearly membership fee, which is very reasonable since we live in a remote delivery mountain area —- and we receive on average 3-4 parcels a week. But other smaller sellers are beginning to feel the pinch —- and they do not want to be a non-profit business!
The cost of fuel & diesel, is affecting nearly everyone, and every business world-wide.
Best, Fred
The party's over...
Just returned from the Post Office a few moments ago.
Sent a small plastic box of 11 parts for a Penn 704 reel from California to Connecticut.
The charge was $9.45!
This parcel with the padded envelope weighed .04 of an ounce. Not 4 ounces. 4/tenths of an ounce.
Best, Fred
I use Priority mail (padded) flat rate envelopes to ship boxed items that will fit.
When I started doing this a medium priority flat rate box was roughly $15.75, and the priority envelope roughly $9.75.
Just a few years later one is looking at over $24 to ship the same box, and $14 for the envelope.
At least the savings on the envelope is something still possible.