Evaluation: PENN Squall Lever Drag Reel

As an avid catfisherman, I’m all the time looking out for instruments to assist me catch not solely extra fish, however greater ones. I had the chance to check out a reel that was beneficial by a pal who targets bigger catfish on the river. He stated this reel covers all of the bases in terms of catfish reels and would change my favourite catfish reel (Abu Garcia Catfish Particular). For starters, the reel jogged my memory loads of  the PENN Squall ll Levelwind nonetheless this reel has two added options that the Levelwind doesn’t have.

A kind of options is the Versa Deal with system which lets you select the deal with size to match the scale of the catfish you’re going after. In my case, I used to be concentrating on huge cats in the principle river in 40 ft of water so I selected to make use of the elongated deal with possibility. The function was user-friendly and allowed for deal with configurations to be modified rapidly with out the necessity for any particular instruments.

Whereas on the water I used to be capable of set the hook on a 21-pound blue cat which I caught utilizing a chunk of hen gizzard. As I fought the fish one other bonus function got here into play and that was the Lever Drag system which is mainly a lever you could push ahead and backward to tighten the drag or lose it. The lever was simply accessible on the aspect of the reel. I used to be capable of alter it utilizing one finger. A easy adjustment ahead tightens the drag and when the lever is pulled backward it loses the drag. I discovered the lever very straightforward to regulate and I used it to my profit when the fish made arduous runs. The lever is flush with the reel so there’s no worrying in regards to the line getting snagged on the lever.

The reel has a most drag of 33 kilos so there was loads of drag power to deal with huge catfish.

This reel is definitely made for offshore saltwater fishing so it’s fully sealed in order that there is no such thing as a potential for corrosion.  Its primary gear is made from marine-grade bronze and its pinion gears are made from stainless-steel. This can be a nice possibility for me since I do enterprise into the Gulf of Mexico each every so often.

There was one disappointing factor about this reel and that’s that it doesn’t have a bait-runner function which isn’t a deal break for me however it could be for you. When you’re in search of a high quality catfish reel with that function try the Abu Garcia C3 Catfish Reel which has a fantastic bait-runner system.

On the finish of the day, I used to be totally happy with the efficiency of the PENN Squall Lever Drag reel and will certainly be incorporating it into my catfishing journeys and offshore journeys. Whereas the reel is a bit costly it’s definitely worth the value and appears to be a reel that I can use for many years to return.