Penn 6500SS Question

[jburban]

HI,
I've got 2 Penn 6500 SS reels. They are about 10 years old and do say Made in America. They are about new and now I'm looking to add a few more reels. In the interest of matching, I can find these on ebay, but I haven't used them enough to know if they are any good. Are these the solid Penn's - solid enough that you'd buy them today? If not, what would be good to pair with them. 20 lb test for all.
Thanks, J

[lemaymiami]

The 6500 is a very solid reel. I use mine loaded with 15 for tarpon as big as they get and sharks up to 250 or a bit larger inshore. Not sure if they'll hold enough 20 mono, they'll certainly hold enough 20lb braid for offshore. The 6500 is small enough that you can cast and retrieve with it, but it is a bit heavy. Most of the time my 6500 with 15, and a 7500 with 20 are in rodholders fishing bait. Hope this helps

[Prop Blast]

Originally Posted by lemaymiami

The 6500 is a very solid reel. I use mine loaded with 15 for tarpon as big as they get and sharks up to 250 or a bit larger inshore. Not sure if they'll hold enough 20 mono, they'll certainly hold enough 20lb braid for offshore. The 6500 is small enough that you can cast and retrieve with it, but it is a bit heavy. Most of the time my 6500 with 15, and a 7500 with 20 are in rodholders fishing bait. Hope this helps

What Bob said The 6500 and today's 650SSm are small enough to cast comfortably, but the once you move up to the 7500SS or 750SSm, it becomes a flatline set up.

15lbs test mono on the 6500, 20lbs mono on the 7500.

PB