# Penn long beach 65 reel



## goldie

Just recently accquired a Penn long beach 65 reel from a Old man, reel looks new and is made in the U.S.A. I was wondering if I would be able to use this reel from the beach to cast out into the surf or is this just a drop your bait straight down ( when fishing from a boat ) type of reel ? If I can cast this reel what type of rod should I put it on ?

thanks 

Goldie


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## histprof

I have one. I bought it for surfcasting. Nope. The heavy chrome/bronze spool acts like a flywheel. Truly awesome backlashes. It works fine for jigging and other vertical fishing. I landed a monster sow snapper on mine a decade ago. I have thought about using it as a yak-out bait reel if the need should arise. I like mine and they are quality reels, but they are really not the best for our shallow beaches. As a shark reel, it will hold enough 50 lb braid to consider it as a yak bait reel. But, it only makes about 8 lb of drag, so it really isn't practical above about 30 lb line. I wish I had more inspiring news, but that mine has landed on the shelf and doesn't get out much. I love my other Penns, but that one is staying home.


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## scrambler

This reel is not ideal for surf fishing due to the metal spool and low gear ratio. However, since it was free you might as well try it out. That reel is more of a boat fishing reel.

Another idea. If is in as good condition as you state, you could sell it on ebay and use the money to buy a used jigmaster.


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## bigfost

The 65 is truly an old school reel that was used by many old surf fishermen, like me. Back in the '60s and early '70s, everything had a chromed brass spool, so we had to learn to cast them. Likewise the slow gear ratio. By today's standards, they are slow as Christmas, but all the reels we had back then were about the same.

All that said, I second the idea of selling it to a collector on Ebay and buying something else a little more modern.


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## sharksurfer66

I fish with one from the beach and love it. Spit on ur thumb, sling it, and lean it over on its side while it spools out. Let your thumb just barely ride the spool. 
However, there are much better, modern reels, like the other guys said....


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## goldie

sharksurfer66 said:


> I fish with one from the beach and love it. Spit on ur thumb, sling it, and lean it over on its side while it spools out. Let your thumb just barely ride the spool.
> However, there are much better, modern reels, like the other guys said....


Thanks Guys ! I did just that ! I went out to our local park and was practice casting, I think I need to put the reel on a longer rod I had it on a 7 foot rod with a 3 oz weight , casted approx 50yrds. Oh yes I can see how that spool can burn your thumb


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## fabian31268

ive got a penn 285 delmar that is one of the best casting reels but i have tweaked it but its slow on the retreive


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## goldie

fabian31269 said:


> ive got a penn 285 delmar that is one of the best casting reels but i have tweaked it but its slow on the retreive


any suggestions what I may do to this long beach 65? It appears look similar to the penn 285 from the outside, but I do not know about the inside components.

thanks Goldie


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## bigfost

fabian31269 said:


> ive got a penn 285 delmar that is one of the best casting reels but i have tweaked it but its slow on the retreive


That's funny right there. I've had most of the Penn conventional reels, including the 65 and the 285. If you think the 285 is a good casting reel, you'd really love casting some of the modern state of the art reels.



goldie said:


> any suggestions what I may do to this long beach 65? It appears look similar to the penn 285 from the outside, but I do not know about the inside components.
> 
> thanks Goldie


Practice, practice, practice.

The only modification is to mag the reel. Do an internet search and you'll find lots of how-to articles. Magging doesn't make a reel cast any better, in fact it slows it down. Magging just cuts down on the backlashes.

BTW, the old school Penn reels are all the same design internally, except for the size of the components. Many different reels actually have interchangeable components.

I have built a couple of hybrid reels by combining spare parts from various old Penn reels.


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## fabian31268

ive seen my 285 shock some of the best casters when they casted it .


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