For those who counted Penn out, be prepared to eat some crow. Penn’s back, big time!
Where Penn’s lineup was lacking was the popular mid priced reels, from $150 to $220, they are back in the game in a big way with the Squall and Fathom series reels. The Squall series began re-writing the books in this regard with two excellent smaller size reels to build upon the strength of the old 525 Mag. Now Penn’s expanded upon that with some larger size Star Drag reels, and they listened to us and produced the 25N size (like they recently began offering in their Fathom Series and Torques). I don’t think there are any better star drag reels for under $200 built, with the star drag running $149! The smallest size Squall Star drags offer a very useful magnetic cast control system, the larger reels do not offer that feature. But, all reels in that series have excellent freespool performance – even their lever drags spin well! And, they make use of aluminum spools, marine grade bronze and stainless steel gear components, and their live spindle – free floating spool design for casting performance. And the reels benefit from HT100 drag elements and Penn’s useful Versa-Drag for the utmost of user fine tuning for their own particular requirements. The anti-reverse is also robust and redundant with both a one way anti-reverse bearing AND silent back up ratchet (dog).
The PENN Squall Star Drag is lightweight, quick on the retrieve, and extremely castable due to its revolutionary Live Spindle design. The Powerful HT-100™ drag system can put the brakes on any big kingfish or yellowtail.
Model | Mono Cap. (yds/lb) | Braid Cap. (yds/lb) | Bearings | Max Drag | Gear Ratio | Line Retrieve | Weight |
SQL12 | 270/12 • 230/15 • 160/20 | 525/15 • 430/20 • 320/30 | 6 1 | 15 lbs | 6.0:1 | 28(in) | 14.4(oz) |
SQL15 | 280/15 • 240/17 • 190/20 | 500/20 • 380/30 • 270/50 | 6 1 | 15 lbs | 6.0:1 | 28(in) | 14.6(oz) |
SQL25N | 320/20 • 290/25 • 220/30 | 650/30 • 450/50 • 370/65 | 6 1 | 20 lbs | 6.0:1 | 40(in) | 18(oz) |
SQL30 | 440/20 • 300/30 • 250/40 | 625/50 • 500/65 • 440/80 | 6 1 | 20 lbs | 6.0:1 | 40(in) | 18.5(oz) |
SQL40 | 350/30 • 300/40 • 220/50 | 725/50 • 600/65 • 525/80 | 6 1 | 20 lbs | 6.0:1 | 40(in) | 19(oz) |