Penn Squall Star Drag

This baby casts like a champ! My set up is a 10ft surf rod (PENN Carnage II) with Fins 40G Braid 45lb. This line is nice, expensive, but nice. KEEP IN MIND THIS REEL HAS TO BE TWEEKED WITH BOTH DRAGS. PRIOR TO LAUNCHING. I DO THIS BY BAITING, WEIGHTING OR LURING UP AND THEN DROPPING THE BAIL FREELY. THE CENTRIGUGAL BREAK IS MOST IMPORTANT, BUT THE MAGNETIC BREAK JUST MAKES IT EVEN BETTER. PRACTICE AND GET COMFORTABLE WITH FIRST. I ALSO THUMB THE SPOOL LIGHTLY. I USUALLY FISH WITH A 3-5OZ WEIGH AND A MULLET HEAD OR CRAB THE SIZE OF A CLOSED FIST (NORMAL MAN HANDS) AND IF YOU CHANGE ANYTHING YOU NEED TO RE TWEEK. FOR THE PRICE THIS REEL IS WORTH EVERY PENNY. easy TO MAINTAIN AND ITS DRAG SYYEM DOES THE TRICK.

I have gained a lot of respect for Penn. Ofc I've always known they were great products. Just a bit out of my price range. That was way before I started fishing heavily. I just steered clear from them. Until now. I love their nonlevel wind reels. That's all I seem to be buying nowadays. I'm more a Daiwa guy. Bias too. Most of my Daiwa purchase usually gets a 5-star rating. Unless shipping was slow. I do get boggle on items that get shipped late. When domestic. From china I get it. It takes forever and products are crap.

The reel is great, but the seller lied and said it was new. it came in the Penn box and looked new, but was very hard to crank and wouldn't feel spin in free spool. I unscrewed and removed the left side plate and found about 4 inches of monofilament twisted and lodged in the gear where the clicker mechanism engages.I don't know if this reel had been fished, but it definitely was spooled with mono at some point. How the mono got behind the side plate is beyond me.DONT ADVERTISE THE ITEM AS NEW IF IT ISNT NEW......SH*TBAGS

Best level wind reel on the market for the price. At $100, 33% savings over the regular price, this is an absolute steal of a deal. Great drag, great casting ability with spool tension and magnet controls, great quality, and exceptionally smooth. Filled with 40# braid about 300+yrds, this real casts a 1oz lure almost 100 yards with no backlash. That's a 1oz lure! Can probably cast and spool off the line with heavier bait and gear? An amazing reel and at $100 you can't afford not to buy one!

I was into lever drags for many years, but when they break I couldn’t figure out how to fix them. My old PENN senator is easy so I thought I would try this one. Spooled up nicely and casts great, but I haven’t gotten a big fish on yet. I’ll update when I do. We go for tarpon and catch a lot of 30-50# sharks, bull reds, and (of course) rays.

Update: I've owned this reel for over a year now and use it for off shore in Southern California using 25lb floracarbon and 30lb braid tied using the FG knot. My fishing buddy just ordered one after using mine this past weekend. I put 15 on board before he landed using his old rig. These were big Bonita and put up great fights. I have no fear of hooking up a big yellowtail with this little guy. I also have two other Penn Squalls including the 25N which I also love. The Squall 15 is a great caster using live bait and no weights. The magnetic cast control is wonderful. The 25N is good when throwing iron and takes a little while to get the hang of without the cast control. I highly recommend these reels for boat fishing and so do my buddies who have used mine. After getting spanked, they've ordered Penn Squall as well!Very nice light reel. The cast controls insure that backlash is a thing of the past. I loaded the reel with braid and boat cast with live bait looking for yellowtail in Southern California. I recommend the SQL15 to my friends and am a happy user. In fact, I like the Squall series so much that I now own 3 Penn SQL reels, the 15, 25n and the 30! Great value too!

This is a great little reel for those on a budget and those who won't be using it much and don't want to spend a fortune on little used gear. I will be using it for surf fishing where you don't want a level wind reel that affects casting. It is well made. If you need a larger reel look at it's bigger brothers.

I have since returned mine, for a defect, I haven't purchased another reel yet, but I will purchase this same reel again or an Avet MC, the magnetic casting features are great to help avoid tangled line.

Great product love it