Penn Squall II Star Drag Overhead Reel, 15SD

sluggish casting performance, lame click on mag and centering knob. Taking apart the find source of poor casting found crushed shims and bearings that barely turned more than one revolution when finger spun on a tapered dowel. The info I had was the cs version had high-performance spool bearings. The bearings have oil or grease in them. Replacing the factory units with open cage hybrid ceramic bearings that spin for minutes. Replacing shims (2) that were binding the bearing cages.

I got this Reel last week as I am adamant about keeping my conventional left hand retrieve just like all my spinning reels and anyone who has common sense knows that holding the weight of fish in your dominant just makes perfect sense (duh! At least for surf fishing). The reel casts amazing! I was able to field Cast it over 500 feet without cleaning the stock lubricant from the bearings and using around half mag and turning down mid cast. The clicking mag system is very nice and placed perfectly where it WON’T rub your wrist Raw during retrieve. Helps to accurately keep track of where you’re at in terms of mag power. Casts very smooth, retrieve is excellent as well as the drag system. I can only hope and pray that one day, Penn will release a Penn Fathom II 15 Star ... MoreI got this Reel last week as I am adamant about keeping my conventional left hand retrieve just like all my spinning reels and anyone who has common sense knows that holding the weight of fish in your dominant just makes perfect sense (duh! At least for surf fishing). The reel casts amazing! I was able to field Cast it over 500 feet without cleaning the stock lubricant from the bearings and using around half mag and turning down mid cast. The clicking mag system is very nice and placed perfectly where it WON’T rub your wrist Raw during retrieve. Helps to accurately keep track of where you’re at in terms of mag power. Casts very smooth, retrieve is excellent as well as the drag system. I can only hope and pray that one day, Penn will release a Penn Fathom II 15 Star drag Casting Special Left hand as I’ll be the first to buy it when I see it!! Great reels, great craftsmanship, awesome customer service for listening to the requests of many and coming out with this awesome left hand casting special! Can’t say enough about Penn! Loyal customer for life!

It took quite a while for this reel to come in (about six weeks), but it was worth the weight. I have a vintage Mag 525 on a Breakaway USA rod; and I bought this one for the Tsunami 11' foot rod that I will be casting bait and weight with. The reel retains the best of the old 525 with some nice improvements, including a metal gear handle, more granular casting control, and the reel arbor which can take braid directly. Because I'm casting bait and weight, I spooled with 20 lb mono.