Penn Fathom 40

[Tim524]

I am considering the reel and found it on Amazon for $180. Any input on a rod to pair it with would be appreciated 

[Fish Jerk]

Long rod for surf or boat rod?

[Tim524]

Surf rod , Bats and sharks.

[Fish Jerk]

I have 2x Penn Fathom 30's and love the reels. It has great free spool stock out of the box and when I opened it up I found everything well lubed by the factory. I do believe the stock HT-100 carbon drags come ungreased though, so I greased mone with Cal's drag grease before buttoning them back up. Since I use straight 65lb on them (less forgiving to overruns than mono), I added static mag's to add more braking to the standard Centrifugal bakes. I recently decided to test the drags against a scale to see how accurate the specs were. Cranking the star down as hard as I could gave me 27lbs of drag with a full spool.

I fish them on a 12' Penn Prevail and Battalion respectively and am completely happy with both. I almost exclusively cast 6+bait on these rods with no issues. Using only squish, I feel 8+bait would be the upper limit.

[Tim524]

Thanks for the reply, Hopefully I can upgrade before the Bat fight 

[Tim524]

Well, I went to BPS today to upgrade my setup    Pen Fathom 30 was the reel I got and paired it with a 12' Offshore Angler Breakwater casting rod.  They had a deal if you trade in a reel or buy a $5 reel, you get $40 off the price of the reel    and $15 off the price of the rod  The rod was already on sale from $99 to $89 so I did the deal. The $5 reels got donated to The Boy Scouts. I hope I made the right choice with this setup, Looks like I will find out at the Bat Fight    I saved $45 and spent the day at a great place with the family 






Oh yeah, I had a $25 gift card too.........more savings !!

[Latimeria]

Great choice, Tim! I use the Fathom 30's and they are perfect for that rod. SNBF-X winning combo?

[Tim524]

I am slowly becoming a donor to the fish gods !!!

[Pinoyfisher]

Fancy schmancy!!! Great deal! You'll enjoy the reel, it's a workhorse that casts great!

[sasquatch]

The thirty is a good size. I think you done good.

[Tim524]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the input   

[Fish Jerk]

How are you gonna spool it?

[Pinoyfisher]

How are you gonna spoil it with?

Good question! I did 100lb braid and 100yds of 40lb mono for both of mine.

[Tim524]

Never used braid before, looks like I need to do some homework 

[1morecast]

Oh boy, Tim is getting serious.