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Penn 30VSW

4558 Views 10 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Snagged
What are you alls feelings on the reel? Am e-mailing with someone who is going to let one go along with a unidentified rod he claimed to pay 300 for. He thinks it may be the older #30 penn international,says it has rollers but is white,wasn't the tuna stick. Anyways,figure the rod would just like a free gift,unless it does have value then it would be a real good deal. The reel has only been used once,and he is asking 400.Anyways,what do you all think about this reel?Is the Hoo-x going to be in the same cat? Should I go with a avet that size?Or for the money is it a good buy?Been pricing them on e-bay,they go for 425-450 shipped NIB,so I guess it would really depend on the rods value.What do you all think?
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My guess is the rod is an Fenwick from the mid 80's. They were the hottest rod at that time and were white. Make sure the reel is the VSW. The older Penn's were not machined out of one solid bar of Aluminum. My opinion is that the Penn 30VSW is above the Avet. The old Fenwick trolling rod is probably worth about a hundred bucks. They were all 7' back then. Short strokers came in the late 80's. Sabre started the trend, which has proved to be a good thing for lifting fish.
He said it was the vsw,2 speed. The older ones are 1 speed right?What ever rod it was he did say it was a trolling rod,and he bought it at academy.
What do you want to use the reel for? The Hoo-X and the 30VSW have totally different uses. Hoo-X is about the size of a Trini40N and is meant to be a 65-80lb jigging reel. 30VSW is a trolling reel. Wide reels are not great for chunking or bottom fishing (just the crappie's opinion) because they wobble too much. If you are looking for a chunking reel and wanna go Penn, wait for the 30VSX or get a hotrodded 30S. Other good chunkers are Penn16VSX and hotrodded 20T (2-speeded), Accurate 12-30, and Avet Pro30 and SDS.

A good jigging reel would be the Trini40N, Saltiga 30&40 and Accurate 870N and 655N.
I am looking for a reel in the +-450 range that I will be my chunking and deep drop reel.There are so many reels out there and so many def. opinions on them its confusing. Not sure if I should buy now,or wait until its closer to when I go on the trip (mem. day weekend),I should prob wait,but I get anxious to buy stuff lol. i just dont want to pass up on a good deal,but if its not a great buy,i can wait.
guy on the trip had no problem chunking and bottom fishing with a 30.
If you want to chunk AND deep drop, I'd go with a narrow 30 or 50 sized reel. Avet SDS is a good choice for the price you're looking at. As mentioned before, Penn is coming out with the big VSX's soon too, these can handle the job as well.
you mean AVET 30/ 2 speed. Sweet. You can pick up an AVET 4/0 2 speed pretty cheap now... there is a post on bloodydecks.com that tells how to get 30# of drag at strike and keep the freespool with a 4/0 AVET.
I am looking for a reel in the +-450 range that I will be my chunking and deep drop reel.There are so many reels out there and so many def. opinions on them its confusing. .

That Penn 30 VSW will handle both chunking and bottom fishing. When Penn introduced the "V" series it was long overdue. The "V" internationals are much improved over the previous internationals. I use the Shimano Tiagra 30WLRSA which is the same size. If I were to buy one reel for both chunking and bottom fishing it would be either the Penn or the Tiagra. You really don't need anything bigger than the 30W size unless you fish for marlin. Hope this helps.
The Avet 30 or 50 SDS are both good reels. The 50 is a bit heavy for chunking in my opinion.
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