Seeing some very old Penn reels here on Ebay for auction or sale reminds me of my old Penn Long Beach reels I got them from Ebay or fellow fishermen. I have 2x #60, 2x #66, 3x #67 and 5x #68. The oldest one is a #60 which a fisherman sold me for $5. Its drag is nothing until lock-up, so I mounted 50# mono line. One day last year I hooked up a giant black sea bass on the pier, about 4 ft long, estimated at 150 lb. Since it's a protected fish, I spent 45 minutes to bring it close to the pier for release. But this big fish fought so hard that the 3/0 hook was bent to an L then pulled out. A cheek scale came with the barb of the hook, it was bigger than my thumb nail. The little old #60 reel with 50# mono line endured the hard fight at lock-up position, without any mulfunction.
My other newer reels some times mulfunction or get damaged when fighting fish just over 30 lb, but all my old Penn Long Beach reels have not failed me when fighting big fish (i.e. shark, bat ray, giant sea bass, grouper, tuna, etc.) up to 300 lb range. But they need good care and good lines. Clean, lube and inspect, replace parts as necessary.
