PENN Rival Level Wind Conventional Fishing Reel

Great productExcellent quality

I’ve caught a lot of 20 and 30 pound catfish on it not sure if it would hold up to much bigger I use it as a backup on my boat but it’s a great little reel

Heavy but great

I have always been a fan of Penn. This seems to be a good basic inexpensive reel. I purchased two for cat fishing. Note: these reels are also available as a combo, but I was not impressed with the Penn rod so I purchased different rods locally and bought both reels on Amazon. So far I am satisfied but have not hooked into a cat over 20 lbs so cannot say how well they will hold up after a few feisty 40+ cats. I also will use them for pier fishing on different rods. I was looking for an inexpensive reel with decent gears and brakes that will last. I believe these will fill the bill.

Great reel. Smooth casting and great clicker

Performed flawlessly used in the Gulf of Mexico

UPDATE #2, 12-31-20: I sent the reel back to Penn hoping for the best. They sent me a new reel, no communications of any kind. We'll see how this one does.UPDATE, 11-29-20:I've had to baby this plastic pile o'poo much more than my trusty Okuma level wind. The reel locks up on even the lightest cast and no amount of adjustments help it.Finally, the gears started rumbling inside and the auto - reverse completely stopped working. Three months old and its dead.I sent a message to Penn several days ago asking to resolve the issue and got nothing. No call, no reply of any kind.My Okuma that cost less than the Penn has NO problems, smooth casts, easy retrieve, no lockups. My father used to use Penn reels back in the day, American made ones. This imported plastic piece of junk is not the Penn we used to know.ORIGINAL POST: Nice reel, smooth on the cast BUT, I have to go slowly on the cast because the lock slams shut on all but the lightest cast. I don't have that problem on my Okuma.

Just received this reel (15LW) and first opinion was “this could work”. I chose this reel for near shore /off shore fishing in southern California; near shore for bottom fishing and off shore trolling. 40lb. braid should provide adequate capacity and strength for either. I’m getting way ahead of myself in this review. The reel feels sturdy (maybe a little heavy at >1 pound). A rudimentary function check looks good; drag range, spool (axial) tension, gear lever, level wind, clicker, etc. The main issue I find “out of the box” is the handle/crank size. The crank radius is about 3 inches and the crank handle is huge. It just seems to me to be a little over-kill. With nearly the same gear ratio, the Penn JigMaster has about a 2 in. crank radius (if that means anything).OK, next day, at the tackle shop to spool’er up. 40# Spectra (braid) with a +/- 12 yard fluorocarbon “top-shot”. It spooled about 250 yds. of braid – (shrug) OK. Then some sticker shock; my $47 new reel is now a $90+ fishing reel. Oh well, it looks and feels good on its 6 and a half foot rod. I’ll surely have more comments when I get this out on the water and “put the spurs to’er”. So far we’re at 5 stars.