A deal hard to pass by...

Wow what a crazy deal. Penn reels are proven to be well made reels. My only problem with them is that they havnt found o way to give their reels the extra edge. The only 80w I will buy is an Okuma Makaira. I have had great sucess with this reel. I was fishing the other day and was fishing with almost 85 - 90lbs of drag on my Makaira and only then did it do something, and even then I still fought it for over two hours. I knew without the drag from that reel I would have never stopped the fish. Thats my only issue with 80w reels, there is really one made that has enough drag in my opinion.

I know very very well makaira, including what makes them by manufacture to bump up the drag to that level, my point was about "the deal" not the performance. I'm also in contact with the man who delivered to Okuma all the tune-ups specs for them to be more successful,where he's name is mentioned in some of Okuma's advertising videos - which is the reel that you fish with. However, Penn Internationals CAN be flipped to deliver just as much drag as Makaira - with same smoothness. It won't be quiet like Makaira is while reeling in, due to the helical cut gears and non-touchable double dogs that's designed with, but IT WILL deliver that smooth buttery feel at 100Lbs drag when the fish pulls. There is always a trick to it. All my reels are tuned up. Some level-drag reels came with 25Lbs drag at full, they end-up delivering 50-60Lbs -all digitally measured at full spool - landing 9ft hammers in 20 minutes - that's old news though.

Well more power to you. I would have probably picked it up for that cheap too anyway.

Im selling my penn international 130W for $500.......nothing is wrong with it, I just need to fix my truck

How soon do you need the money?

How soon do you need the money?

Im selling my penn international 130W for $500.......nothing is wrong with it, I just need to fix my truck

Is it two speed or one?

i was just playing around with 70-75lbs of drag with my Makaira tonight. its a pain in the ass to lay into on concrete. in the sand it might be easier or with something to grab onto. but off a jetty or sea wall, it could be dangerous.

I'm sticking with 40lbs at strike. even with 40 i still pull hooks dragging fish in and just about every 80W can do 40 at strike no problem.

No1sharker, what fish pulled 90lbs of drag?

13+ tiger.

Hey Tyler don't get carried away I know youthful exuberance ,,,,,but stay humble its more important.

Any of you guys using 70-100 lbs of drag better plan to tie yourself to a tree and hope your arms don,t pull off on those big sharks.....Dave

Claiming, vs measuring are too big different facts. While i do agree that Makaira can do 100lb full spool when the level drag is fully engaged, - i doubt that the reel came preset by the manufacture to deliver that out-of-box. Sounds good for marketing though, but a digital scale do wonders nowadays.
Also, hard to imagine what the drags are at half-spool when the laws of physics kicks in like the centrifugal force when a reel is originally preset at 100lb full spool. I've shown many many times, setups - rod and reel - digitally set at 20 lb drag, when tested - many would claim that the drag is way more then that,, till they see the numbers from a scale. Let's not forget about speed, and the long-line belly effect... So, my question is - when 100lbs of drag? Maybe at the end of the spool to turn the shark? Each person has he's comfort zone - which is why i'll say - set your drag based on your comfort zone, not based on numbers.
I have a friend that i fish with a lot, he hates using my setup because drags of my setups were preset way above he's like, however i don't like to fish with he's stuff because he's style of fishing is much much softer then mine. All in all - again - use what's comfortable for you, not for others!; and forget about drag numbers. Fish don't care about that, including 100lbs drag at whichever level of spooled line-level is that reel or what brand of reel you're using - they just want to get the heck away from you & your job - at best - is to stop them.

this goliath was pulling full drag on josh's makaira 80w. look at the lever when they zoom in on the reel.