Looks like my Penn days are over

[mrbrklyn]

With Penn now eliminating all high end Star Drags, it looks like my love affair with Penn Reels is at a close.  for the fishing I do, there is no way I can switch to lever drags.  I am constantly swapping the drag on the fly.  What do you do when you hook a 20 inch blue fish when you were porgy fishing. 
I don't get the love affair with leverwinds.  For the life of me, I just can't understand why they killed the Torque star drags, especially small sizes.

[trickbag]

isnt that what lever drags are meant for? And excell at? I use an Okuma metaloid 5 as my travelling reel. It Accompanies me on every trip I take to any coastal location.Thanks to info on this site I did a little blue printing , plus a little hot rodding and have pretty much a monster 0f a small reel. I did the angular contact bearing and the spool sleeve and also tried out one of my own ideas of turning the steel drag plate down in thickness on the contact face.because of the design of the plate,thinning it down results in a contact patch about 8.5 mm wide on the outer circumference instead of about 6 on the stocker.then I knocked down the steep drag ramp up andmarked the right side of the reel with points corresponding to selected drag numbers. filed down the little drag lever stop at strike so i can easily push it from free to full with only detents.I run it with 50 braid and use it for everything from yellowtail snapper to big gags and aj's.its set at about 22.5# drag at max and it's marked at 8,10,12,16 and full.so it can handle anything from 25# leader to 60#without having to reset the drag with a scale.it could probaby make more drag but set up like this , it's still very smooth at max and not overtaxing the bearings. if I need more drag at any stage of the fight, it's simple to add by sliding the lever to the next dotand knowing how much drag it's putting out at practically any spot in the dial

[Keta]

#1, LD reels work better for what you are doing, you are not limited to freespool, strike and full.
#2, Nothing wrong with a Penn star drag Fathom.

[Ron Jones]

Lee and I have had this conversation, I agree with the Porgy fisherman. Lee is right that the Fathom is a very nice reel.
I do believe that you have a few Torque star drags, couldn't imagine wearing one of those out in a lifetime.
The Man

[Alto Mare]

With Penn now eliminating all high end Star Drags, it looks like my love affair with Penn Reels is at a close.  for the fishing I do, there is no way I can switch to lever drags.  I am constantly swapping the drag on the fly.  What do you do when you hook a 20 inch blue fish when you were porgy fishing.  
I don't get the love affair with leverwinds.  For the life of me, I just can't understand why they killed the Torque star drags, especially small sizes.

There are many reels that wouldn't let you down.
Try one of our custom reels, you have a few choices.

Sal

[Lingwendil]

Sounds like a conversion/custom is what you need? Even based on a Penn. Lot's of durable, gorgeous, practical builds to look at

[CapeFish]

This is an interesting dilemma and one I have wondered about it as well. The saltwater star drag seems to be potentially on the way out in all sizes now thanks to braid and the new generation of spinning reels. I am pretty sure the large models will be stopped sooner rather than later e.g. the Senator size reels??? There are now more small to medium sized lever drags on the market. Are you stuck on Penn? There are still some other brands that offer high end star drags though e.g. Daiwa and Shimano and that American company that has had 48 different names, it was called Release at one stage?

[Penn]

Are you stuck on Penn? 

I'm not stuck on Penn but I've been happy with their support and durability of their products.  But I am not going to use a lever drag.  I actually wonder if Penn will be around in 5 years.  The website seems to be not updated well, and maybe the coglomerate has squeezed the life out of them. 

There verity of offerings is much slimmed down as well.  It just makes me feel abandoned.

Track me down in 5 years to say hello.

tony

[Penn]

For the life of me, I just can't understand why they killed the Torque star drags, especially small sizes.

Comes down to the demand.  The Torque SD series debuted in 2011.  We sold a good amount over the years but the sales dried up recently. 

tony

[Swami805]

Accurate makes a nice star drag, AVET will be releasing new star drags next month   Might be worth a look

[Keta]

Shimano Trinidad reels are star drag and well built.   Another option would be to pick up several star drag Torque reels before the supply dries up and set on them until needed, but that would take lots of $.  And the Penn Fathom star drag reels are also good.

[conchydong]

Newells and parts for them may be even harder to come by  than for used Torques. I wonder if Valley Manufacturing still has the rights to Newell reels? I was wishing that Penn would have bought Newell after Carl passed away but it never happened. Lot's of star drags still being made by the Asian companies as well as the other USA companies, hopefully you can find one that suits your needs and holds up.

Scott

[MarkT]

Lee and I have had this conversation, I agree with the Porgy fisherman. Lee is right that the Fathom is a very nice reel.
I do believe that you have a few Torque star drags, couldn't imagine wearing one of those out in a lifetime.
The Man

I seem to wear them out every season   Every season I pack them up and send them to Penn for repair and restoration. 

The fathoms, I would SO recommend them you your average fisherman.  But for me, I would eat them monthly.

Why would a Fathom wear out faster than a Torque?

[Keta]

Greased Dartanium II (CF) drags are far better than the old Dartanium ones.

[MarkT]

Even the old gold Trinidads could be upgraded with Carbontex washers with Cal's grease.  Both my old Toriums have upgraded drags without the Craptanium washers.  Shimano's with Dartanium II have greased carbon fiber washers which is most of their stuff these days.