PENN Warfare Level Wind Conventional Fishing Reel (All Models & Sizes)

Very dependable and well made. With a little care, will last a lifetime.

Really great reel for the price if you are comfortable with baitcasters and want something a little beefier. This reel fits a really nice slot of being slightly heavier than the average bait casting reel, while not being so rediculously huge that you’ll look silly fishing for anything smaller than a marlin. After hours and hours of research, I paired this bad boy with a 2-piece kast king perigee heavy rod, and I would be shocked if you could find a better medium/heavy setup for under $100 (of course I did feel a little silly putting $50 of 30lb braid to put on my $50 reel, but that’s neither here nor there.). I really like the features this reel has like the level wind and clicker, without going too far with things like magnetic drag. If you’re looking for a workhorse that isn’t too fancy and don’t break the bank, I would not hesitate to recommend this. I would say you need to have a decent amount of practice with baitcasters to make this work, as knotting up a huge amount of heavy line is no fun. However once I figured out how to dial in the spool tension I can whip out a 2oz weight as hard as I want. Pro-tip: If I’m really launching it out there I like to tighten the spool so that line doesn’t come out unless I give the rod a slight shake.If you forced me to give some negatives, here is what I would say:-the spool tension knob really requires a good cranking down to get it to the tighter settings. With heavier weights it feel like the final 1/8 white knuckled turn takes it from free spooling to not dropping it all-very particular, but the clicker switch can be a little clumsy to engage as there is no way to tell by touch which way you need to slide it to turn it.Overall I would definitely recommend this reel for someone that has a little experience with baitcasters, is looking for something to pull in a nice sized fish, and doesn’t want to drop $200 on something that they aren’t sure really fits their needs better. I will likely be buying a second one.

Purchased to kayak fish in the Florida Keys in December and didn't really get to use it (sad), but returned to the Keys June 4-11 to participate in "Coral Reef Sailing Adventure" with the Boys Scouts of America Sea Base. I requested, and was granted permission to bring my own rod and reel and took this in combo with a 7' Med-Heavy Berkley "Big Game" rod. Winds were light, and we ended up motoring around a lot, and I trolled with this setup the entire time. Caught a 25" black fin tuna trolling with this reel along with many other fish during the trip (including a very large nurse shark one evening), and the reel worked great.The only complaint I might have is that the "bait clicker" can get stuck at times and feel jammed although this doesn't seem to affect the reel action and/or drag. A good rinse in warm fresh water clears this up quickly. Otherwise, this was a good reel.

Great quality and build.

To start off with the bad. It's very simple, there's one issue I have with this reel and it's that I really don't like the large knob on the handle. I wish it were 1/2 the size it is and might look into replacing it down the line. Outside of that, this reel is exactly what I was looking for.I wanted a reel to do some walleye trolling and really dislike most of these kind of reels because, even if it's traditional, the handle is on the wrong side for right handed people. So finding a 15 size reel like this, with a line counter and with the handle on the left is difficult. I found this one and thought I'd give it a try. I'm glad I did because it's really great. (Disclaimer, I haven't taken this fishing yet, only attached it to the rod and spooled it up).One of the most underrated features of this reel is the auto engage when you star reeling. It acts like a normal reel in that sense. Again, this is a feature that isn't traditionally in these kind of reels and what sets it apart from the rest I've looked at. To be able to free spool and then reel to re-engage the crank is awesome.Most of the major parts on the reel are made of metal except the housing. And for a reel that's under $80, I'm fine with that. But even with the plastic housing, everything has the "feel" of being well made.It has a really positive clicker that you can turn on/off. And the line counter does what it's supposed to do.I just happen to have swooped in during a sale and got the reel for under $50. I gave this 5 stars because on a scale of value & performance, I'd be willing to bet you couldn't find a lower cost reel, with as many features, that costs in this rage. If this reel was $150 I wouldn't bat an eye spending that on it.

I haven’t used it yet, but everything works smoothly and like it should. The only thing I have found wrong with this reel is the reel foot is very small for the size of the reel. I matched it with a Shimano Trevala S and the reel rocks side to side. I need to sign the reel foot to fit it snugly one there. All other Penn reels I own have a larger foot and fit securely in this rod. All of my other Abu Garcia’s fit the rod too. I haven’t found anything online about the reel foot being small. If your rod doesn’t have a trigger just below the reel seat, the included rod clamp will solve this issue, but unfortunately it won’t work with this rod.Update: I finally got a chance to use this reel and I’m very impressed. Penn has stepped up there game and made a smooth reel that’s affordable. I fish in the ocean from a kayak a lot and I routinely take my reels apart to clean and re lube since the reels are within 1’ of the water all day. The inside had no salt crystals and penn had put a decent amount of there grease inside. I normally completely disassemble a reel after purchasing and put my own grease and oil, but decided I would try this one out as is. I ended up closing the reel back up without doing anything to it after fishing besides rinsing with fresh water.