Penn’s Fathom II Lever Drag Reels, what’s changed, better, worse?
PLEASE note, Steve Carson a friend for over 20 years and “Penn’s Ambassador” to the public corrected a major error of mine regarding the single speed 40N. The reel won’t fill the slot the prior model did for us as a high speed wahoo bomb reel. The 60 and 40 size single speeds will be optimized to fish LIGHT drag, optimized for 20# mono. Call ’em sailfish or even light line kingfish reels. DARN!!! Steve also offered that this was one reason why Penn uppped the high gear ratio of the 2 speed 40NLD to 6:1 rather than 4:1.
Visit and Subscribe CharkBaitUSA for more interesting videos.
Love the honesty, I’m hoping they can fix the problems with the 80 to have as a backup big tuna reel to my Avet 50w without shelling out another $500++. What are your thoughts on the big speedmasters (size 20 and 25) from Shimano in comparison? I have the 12 but haven’t heard much about the bigger ones
Mark ,
You don't sugar coat what you sell and that's exactly why I buy from you!! Thank you so much for always sharing, hope you feel better!! Million Likes
the dollar has gone up against the yuan. I think the costs of shipping is back to normal but the cost of raw materials hasn't
I live in Vietnam. Very passionate about fishing. that the economy does not permit ownership of film reels made in the United States. I really like American made stuff.
I’m new to fishing for larger Tuna. I bought the 60N from another dealer as an entry level rig. They spooled it with 100lb braid at my request. I got home and set the drag to 20 lb at strike with a spring scale. I quickly realized the free spool was gone. I went back to the shop two days later and was told that’s how these larger reels with heavier drags are. I kept it though I was uncomfortable about it. I believe they would have made me eat the cost of the braid and installation if I returned it since they were telling me it was normal. Thank you for putting this video out. Now I know I’m not crazy, or at least I’m not alone. Hopefully they step up and stand behind what they sold me.
Any word when they are gonna update the torque models with the new gear ratios?Wanna get that 40n.
cant wait to get my hands on 40n left handed. just ordered one on black friday from ya, hope they come in stock soon!
13:59 — Mark, really appreciate your honesty about your own inventory and especially your POLITICS! 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
Question though: I'm a rookie angler who only recently started fly-lining with conventional reels (casting live bait). Is this issue with lack of free spool a Penn problem or is it a lever-drag problem?
I heard from other tackle shops that lever drags naturally have worse free spool than star drags because the lever drag mechanism is "attached to the spool at all times."
I'm not an engineer nor am I an experienced enough fisherman to know if that's true or not. But I know I have some trouble fly-line casting in free spool when the drag is calibrated properly on my lever drag Okuma Custom Blue 5N (drag at "Strike" 33% test of weakest part of line).
Clarification regarding size. The International 80 maintains the traditional "IGFA 80" sizing system that has been around for 75+ years. Changing it now would definitely confuse people, so they are now just updated with generations [V, IV, etc]. The Fathom series uses Penn's newer sizing system, where whatever the number is, indicates that it holds 300 yards of "that" pound test mono. A Fathom 15 holds 300/15 mono, a Fathom 30 holds 300/30 mono, and so on. The Fathom 80 will hold 300/80 mono, about the same as a 6/0 Senator. The "80" size Fathom FTHII80LD2 will not be a 130-200 pound reel like an "International 80" would be, though along with that, the Fathom has only about half the line capacity of the International. The Fathom 80 will be an 80-100 pound reel.
It should be noted that in the Fathom II lineup, the "Single-Speed" 40N and 60N will probably not be very useful for the west coast angler, wahoo or otherwise. The "Single-Speed" versions of these two models have a different drag cam, and are optimized for 20-pound monofilament [40N], and 30-pound monofilament [60N]. It will not be possible to dial them up to give enough drag to use with even 50-pound mono. "However", the 40N "TWO-Speed" model has been substantially increased in speed from the old 5.1- 1 high speed to now a 6-1 high speed [50 IPT].
keep the political talking points out of your videos and ill come back.
Is an 80 fathom really intended to compete with an International 80 in terms of size?
Great point about the questionable role of a <$400 bluewater reel in the Penn product portfolio. And spot on regarding your comment about NorCal intermittent tuna fishery; exactly why I bought the 60N.
Dollar is worth less than in 2012 but the yuan is worth even less relatively speaking. Some of the increase in price may have more to do with covering the US costs such as marketing and in-continent transportation.
Sorry you got the flu, but glad you went on a 8 day fishing trip!! Hopefully it went well and we’ll be seeing some of the adventure! Thanks for the look at the reel.
Im looking forward to tyring out the 40n. I think the T-Bar is going to be nice to have.
I wish the 60 was available as Left hand retrieve.
How do you think you would spool up the 40?
The shimano speedmaster 16 is the same is the same with the Greek spool at 15 but 20 drags for 65 test there’s like no free spool
I feel like I should be a youngster and say "first" Mark given I'm the first to comment. But I am no youngster and yes, the consequence is that you and I are screwed going forward for the next soo many years. We will be paying off the $5,200,000,000,000 this government has spent in two years for a long time coming! I may not be right at retirement age, but my retirement age has taken a beating. We work too hard to be put in this spot, but not much we can do. Onto the reels, I don't own a Fathom but I have a number of hours with them. Great pieces, but I wasn't in love as much as others. I found the reel to be weighted awkwardly left and right and when reeling in it felt like the reel was moving side to side on me. Plenty powerful and has caught a ton of big fish. Great price for a two speed. I'll stay with my higher end products but for guys to get into it they are a good product for sure.
