Flounder at 42 today

[F Brewer]

Left the dock and came out of the hole in the wall around 7:30 am. Lines in and trolled all day around 42. Ended up with two 19" one 20" and one 22". Fish were nice and fat. Very slow day but the weather was great and a good time was had by all. Had several other bites but missed them. Caught them on cut bait and minnows on a blue and white bucktail. I think the fish are there and it will only get better. Myself and one other boat were over there and that was it. For everyone who could have gone today, you missed a nice day on the water. Fish for supper tonight and leaving for Nags Head Saturday for a week. For all who go, good luck.
T-Bear

[Feeshon]

Nice job Frank and thanks for the report

[capt. dave]

I was with T Bear on this trip. He got us on the fish, what few there were this early. We had a great time. I had the fresh flounder tonight for supper.

Here was the bad thing. I had purchased two Penn 230 reels a couple or three years ago but may have used them no more than 10 times. They were mounted on 'Bill Fisher' rods with roller guides and had 60 pound wire on them. I hung into a big glob of braided line and sea weed that took a strain on the rod I was using. After I got my rig back in the water and I wanted to check the bait a little later the main gears crashed. Bob-A-Log had to pull in the wire line inhand over hand while I was able to coax it onto the reel. So I picked up the other rod and started to use it. Guess what, that reel broke too. This time T Bear pulled in the line. I have to think that having two identical reels to fail like that in less than a half hour suggests that Penn put out some junk. When I got home and took the reels off of the rods, there on the back of them were this label that said 'Made in China'. Guarenteed I won't buy any more of them.

[capt. dave]

More on the Penn 230 reels. I went over to Green Top this morning to see if they thought it would be worth trying to fix the reels. The opinion I got more or less verified what I had heard about these reels not holding up. The reel guy thought that the pinion geer was stripped. He also said that he thought those reels were not going to be any good for wire lining. His suggestion was to make them into bottom fishing reels. I took one of the reels apart but wasn't able to find what was wrong. Since I have a bunch of bottom fishing reels already, I'm probably not going to try to repair them but rather throw the pieces of junk away. Maybe I'll buy some Okumas to take their place.

This isn't the first time I have been disappointed with Penn quality. I bought a half dozen of a new model spinning reel Penn had put out. They sucked! The bails came loose all the time and the drags were very poor. I've thrown most of them away. This is sad because I used to buy nothing but Penn stuff and now I probably won't buy any more new stuff from them.

[skirtchaser]

All of Penn is not junk. Unfortunately, the 230's are just that. JUNK. The 320 LD or 330 LD's are a much better reel. You shouldn't have any problem with those.

Frank
"Skirtchaser"

[capt. dave]

Frank, I have had no problems with the Senators, Internationals, and the 320's and 330's. They are all 'Old' stuff, not 'New' stuff like the 220's and 230's and the new models of spinning reels that might not have been designed very well or were poorly produced. Sill I think this new stuff is giving Penn a real black eye; at least in my opinion.

[rocksandblues]

The low end penns have been junk for years. Shimano

[SANFLEA]

Left the dock and came out of the hole in the wall around 7:30 am. Lines in and trolled all day around 42. Ended up with two 19" one 20" and one 22". Fish were nice and fat. Very slow day but the weather was great and a good time was had by all. Had several other bites but missed them. Caught them on cut bait and minnows on a blue and white bucktail. I think the fish are there and it will only get better. Myself and one other boat were over there and that was it. For everyone who could have gone today, you missed a nice day on the water. Fish for supper tonight and leaving for Nags Head Saturday for a week. For all who go, good luck.
T-Bear

Sounds good , headed over this weekend. How long did it take you from hole in the wall to the 42?

[F Brewer]

From the time I came out of the hole in the wall to 42 was about 20 minutes. Water was flat calm. Good luck to all who go.
T-Bear

[Feeshon]

I'll be there in the next few weeks Frank. I am taking the yak under the bridge at Gwynn's this weekend for some no petrol just manpower fishing. It's a cheap work out for me, I may even surprise a striper under the bridge or a flounder in the shallows.