Penn reels – Doug Rutherford

I’ll admit to being spoiled. Over the years, the reels I’ve owned have tended to be Penns, Daiwas, and Shakespeares. Reels take wear and tear and occasionally need repairs. In the case of all three manufacturers, all you have to do these days is go to the corporate website, find the parts diagrams online, and order the parts.

In those halcyon days before the internet, all reels came with parts diagrams in the box. This is why I’m spoiled.

Last year, I bought a rod and trolling reel combo as a “pick your own birthday present” thing. I decided it was time to step into the next century, or the current one at least, and get a trolling reel with a line counter. I picked up a Rapala combo from Canadian Tire.

Now, less than a year later, the reel basically fell apart. The level wind stopped functioning, as did the line counter, and the reel jammed. I took it apart and found a number of pieces cheerfully floating around, enjoying their newfound freedom from those restraints that kept them in the places where they were previously located. Such exuberant freedom cannot be tolerated, so I reassembled the parts in their appropriate position, reassembled the cover, and immediately watched the results of them escaping again. Some retaining piece, not contained in the reel body and located somewhere undiscoverable, is not there.

Going online to the Rapala site was useless. I couldn’t find a parts diagram. Actually, I couldn’t even find the reel on the site by its model number. So, with their somewhat limited Contact Us link on the page, I asked for a parts diagram so I could order repair parts.

Credit where credit is due, I got a response in about 12 hours. However, the request was for the parts I wished to order. How do I know this when I don’t have a parts diagram? I suppose I could have asked for the doodad that goes on the end of the whatchamacallit, but figured I should probably point out that I need the parts listing to order the parts I need. I’m still waiting for the response.

At this point, I’m thinking that the rod is quite nice, and the reel, useful for nothing else as is, did come with a lot of really good fishing line…

Camping on Labour Day has become a family tradition in our household. This was a bit odd, in that I was the only one who went out this year.

I’ll admit, it was nice to get out at least one more time this year. At this point, our weather can go pretty “iffy” but I’m still holding out hope for more fall to come. Camping can be quite nice this time of year. There’s no bugs to speak of and the weather can be pleasant if you’re prepared for the odd nippy morning. And, with the leaves changing, particularly at higher elevations, the scenery is wonderful.

Fall fishing can be good, although this weekend was not spectacular. I went to Fox Lake, and despite the normal trend over the last few years for Fox to pick up after Discovery Day and Kusawa to tail off, the fishing was a bit sparse.

My choice off campground was based on more than fishing. I have found, over the past years that Fox Lake has become more of the family campground, while Kusawa Lake campground has become party central. Kusawa can be downright noisy through the night, and the YTG camp officers can’t be everywhere all the time. It’s not as bad as the government campground at Pine Lake, though…

I did get one lake trout: small, about 2 lbs. What struck me as odd this year is that the surface temperature of the lake is quite warm, 55° F throughout the entire weekend. I usually see it about 49° or 50° by this time in the fall. That probably explained why the fish were still down quite deep in the water column. Most of what I saw were hanging around clouds of bait fish in the 60 – 90′ range. Trying to get a line down that far, without snagging the bottom at the same time is not easy.

I had a few complications. My relatively new (bought late last year) Rapala trolling reel fell apart. The line counter quit earlier this year, and I hadn’t fixed it because you can’t even find a parts diagram online. The level wind crapped out this weekend.

Fortunately, my 20+ year old Penn was also in the boat. I did put it on my good rod and used it. Its one issue is that the clicker isn’t working, but I do have the online parts diagram from Penn and will check to see which one of two possible parts needs replacing. My 10 year old Penn 190 also needs a bit of repair, but both of these are off season repair plans. When winter comes, a little diversion that makes you think of spring coming is perfectly good, right?

The weather was a bit strange. It followed the progression of sunny, sun showers, cloudy with showers, just cloudy. Repeat as necessary. There was a slight interlude with a bit of hail with the sunshowers at one point while fishing Sunday afternoon.

I’m not ready to put either the camper or the boat away yet. The issue with the camper is freezing temperatures and when the local sani-dumps close up. I may fix that issue since I’m calling our plumber tomorrow to see about having a dump attached to the house sewer system. Putting the boat away usually doesn’t happen until some time in October. The Environment Department is planning to keep 10 campgrounds serviced until the end of September, and they usually are available without services until the end of October for the hardy.

I will say one thing about the fall. I’m not the biggest fan of what it portends in the future, but it is damn pretty…

Tag: Penn reels

Putting the cart before the horse

Labour Day camping