Hi guys I'm Italian and about to buy the new PENN 950ssm,since yesterday I've been the proud owner of a PENN 9500, that now as you know has been discontinued, with this reel I have been trolling for about 10000 miles (from California to Australia,Caribe and Mediterranean) during some boat deliveries, catching many big fishes included a striped marlin about 50kg at Cook island(Kiribati), but just yesterday at the Marina of PortoVenere,an idiot driver passed over my reel with his huge black Chrysler SUV (Italians who own these cars are always and undoubtely assholes!),the arm that connect the reel to the rod broked down really badly, making me cry! Unbelievably a friend of mine could manage to re-attach the arm and then the reel to the Shimano Beast Master with some nylon fishing line and with this device and a mackerel shaped X-rap we got a 16 kg amberjack(Seriola dumerilii)!!! Anyway, I would like to know if the Penn 9500 is compatible in some parts with the newest 950ssm, I mean if for istance the spool is the same, or other parts, in this case I would surely go for it as I could have some spare parts for the new one, as in Italy are not possible to find easily and moreover are really superexpensive. If not, I could consider to take a Fin-Nor equivalent just to try something new, but in any case something in this range of price, 150 or so(American price of course being in Italy as expensive as a barrel of good wine!). thanks a lot, ciao, be well stefano
I don't know about the new Ssm being compatable but I woud bet you coudl find one of the older Penns on ebay...
NICE!!! NEW METAL PENN REEL 950 SS,9500 SS,WITH BOX!! - eBay (item 220218913133 end time Apr-06-08 21:39:35 PDT) Was just checking, New older model,Seller ships to Europe. Looks good, six days left. Worth watching.
Stefano- pull the solid brass main gear out of your old 9500 & put it it the new 950ssm. it's not the best, but certainly better than the pot-metal main gear that comes in the ssm. other than that, there aren't many other upgrades or mod's necessary to the ssm. Oh yeah, Welcome to 360tuna! tight lines -Brian
Yes, the tackle was on the private ground of the Marina few meters from the jetty, I mean not on a busy main road!!!But as we say, idiots' mother is always pregnant, could be a kid or a cat pawing for butterflies, but whatever, I'll get a new one, I often buy fishing tackle in USA because I have a girlfriend in NY that get the stuff and later deliver it to IT amid commercial samples, just to avoid taxes, in Italy and in Europe everything is very expensive, may you figure out how can an European made (Estonia) Rapala crankbait being charged 29$$ while the same item costs only 13$$ in the States!!!! I was also considering the Fin-Nor OF95, do you know if it can match with the PENN, did somebody try it? Ciao e grazie stefano
hi Stefano i am sorry about your tackle, but i have to bring it up, it is not the idiot's fault never ever lay your rods on the ground, it is what they call basic fishing, before a kid get hold of a fishing pole you teach him not to put it on the ground, again sorry about your tackle, but it is your fault
I'm sorry, I should explain this better, the reel, the 4 pieces rod and allthe other stuff were packed into my luggage with all the sailing equipment and all the toys, just in the way when you get out of your car, open the rear door and take all your things down for bringing them to the boat!!! If instead of a luggage we had a big CQR anchor you can be sure that the asshole would have been more careful rearing his useless vehicle!!! ciao
