penn reels

Question
i recently got a old penn peer 209 and not sure of the drag, clicker, or line to use mono? can you direct me to somewhere or can you help me find a place where theres the direction that came with the reel maybe that will help. thanks  

Answer
Hi Jason;

I have that reel and even the original instruction booklet that came with it.  I also have other Penn reels and their respective instruction booklets.  Some are quite old and quite a few simply came with the same general instruction booklet.  There is nothing particularly unusual about the 209 and any Penn booklet for a reel of similar size would provide you with what you need.  I have spooled my 209 with various types of line over the more than 30 years I have had it and found all were suitable.  Dacron, mono, and now have one of the new braided "superlines" on it.  Depending on the rod you match it to and what sort of fishing you intedend doing, anything from 15 to 30 pound test lines should be fine.  The star drag is typical of almost any similar sized reel from Penn and most other manufacturers. Precise setting of the drag is determiined by the line test spooled onto the reel.  In general, a setting of about 1/3 the breaking strenght of the line is considered about right.  The best way to do this is by tieing the end of the line to a spring scale when rigged on the rod.  But this is only a general guideline and depending on how you are fishing, more or less might be better.  

A couple of things experience has shown me is to always loosen the drag at the end of a day fishing and reset it when you start fishing the next time.  Once you get a measurement of how much drag is appropriate to a particular line strength, you should be able to set this just by the feel and not need a spring scale.  The reason for loosening when not in use is the keep the drag washers from sticking together and preventing the metal spring washers that are part of the drag system from loosing their springiness.  Use the clicker only when needed, to indicate a strike, and turn if off when reeling in a fish.  This will increase its life and also not affect the drag.  Leaving the clicker on while fighting a fish will increase drag and result in an actual drag greater than you set.  Lubricate and clean the reel regularly as I do for mine, and we should both have reels that have plenty of fish catching life left in them.  

You can go to the website for Penn reels and chances are get the instructions and parts list for that reel.  Use your "search" and you should have no problem getting there. I believe it is www.pennreels.com but am not certain.

-Rich