Penn Fathom II Two Speed Reels

Received everything exactly is ordered and as always, you guys do an amazing job. Thank you.

Excellent

Good product, good service. just what I expected. Fast delivery , the reel came with free braid! Hope to catch some big ones with it soon

Bent handle and poor drag control

The reel arrived with a bent handle, which I knew was a common issue with this model, so I wasn’t surprised—just disappointed. I was able to manually bend it back into place, and the reel is now functional. I’ve since ordered an upgraded handle, which should permanently solve that problem. The bigger issue is with the drag curve. When I set the drag to 20% of the line’s breaking strength at the strike position, the drag at the low end becomes too heavy for my application. I slow troll live bait off a kayak, and I need just enough tension to keep line from peeling off due to movement, but light enough that a predator can take the bait naturally with minimal resistance. With this reel, even at the lowest setting just above free spool, there’s too much pressure on the spool. My older generation Penn Fathoms had excellent control in this regard. Unfortunately, the newer Fathom II model performs poorly for slow trolling live bait where subtle drag control is critical.