Here are the pic's I promised of the Penn 710 and a repaired 704. As I stated earlier I do not collect these reels they have all been fished and in some cases have had to be repaired.

The first reel is a Penn 710(Spinfisher) model that I purchased in 1971. 200yds-12lb capacity. 3.6:1 retrieve ratio, it weighs 16+oz. Aluminum housing and 1piece rotor cup, with stainless steel components, (mainshaft-bail-gears). A standard lefthand drive, teflon drags, tungsten carbide line roller



A repaired 704. I cracked the rotor cup on this reel and could find no original (green) replacement for it. The black rotor cup is from a 1980 Penn 704z, essentially the same reel just a modern version.
250 yds-20lb capacity(450yds-10lb). All aluminum housing and rotor cup, stainless steel components, ball bearings, teflon drag, tungsten carbide line roller guide.



These reels are fished on four fiberglass spin rods that I have, 3 of the rods are among my very first home builds. The other one is a Quick - ReFlex Nypoxy Glass model. The home builds are all one piece a 7.5', a 10.5', and a 11.5' rods all built on yellow Lamiglass blanks. Hope you enjoy looking at these photos, respectfully RV Reclus

I have just flat fished through some spinning reels, including a Mitchell 300 and one of Lew's spinning reels. But even my graphite bodied Penn spinning reels show no sign of letting up - you can ride them hard and put them away salty wet.
Not that I recommend it, but you can. I fished with a buddy that lived at the coast and never even thought about rinsing off his reel - just lean it in the corner of the garage when he got home.
Yes, I think I will be looking for a couple of green Penn spinfishers.

Thanks for the photos.

I've got a gold and black 710z that replaced my "Greenie" which was destroyed in a fall on the rocks of the Scussett Beach jetty sometime in 1976 or so. Damn near killed myself that night. The "new" 710z has been fished very hard and completely abused, but still it looks good and works perfectly. I just matched it to a 5-Star Abu Garcia glass 7.5' rod for some heavier Ohio R. work. I'll have to post pics of the set-up, its a dandy. BTW, the Penn 710 is the reel that landed the world record striped bass in the surf!

I've also got my 11.5' one piece white Lamiglass surf rod with a Penn 750SS, that was my "Canal" rod for The Portuguese Hole and other spots where we'd fish big plugs at night. If I can get it out of my office (it's on the wall) I'll see if I can rig the reel - there's no real seat, this is a true surf rod and I used hose clamps and friction tape to set the reel based on how it was going to be fished - and photograph the set up. It was hot stuff on the Cape three decades ago!

I LOVE Penn reels and stubbornly fish nothing but Penn in salt water. From my great grandfathers Senators to my Squidders and Jigmasters, there's nothing like a Penn.

Joe C.

I had a beautiful Newell conventional on an 8' jetty stick that I'd built from a honey lamiglass blank - it was a killer rig until I turned my back to put some gear in the car while on the Point Defiance pier in Washington one fateful day in 1980. Someone took three of my rods (in broad daylight with hundreds of people about and me just 15' away). I later found a fellow fishing with one of them with a mismatched reel from one of my other rods. The rod had my name inked on it - after all, I built the damn thing. Called the cops, they took the rod for "evidence' Four months later I got the rod back, broken, with the mismatched reel. They said they didn't locate the other two and had no explanation for the 2' missing from the end of the one-piece rod. They also said they couldn't prove the guy fishing my rod had stolen it and he gave them the name of someone they couldn't locate as the ultimate culprit. Broke my heart ...

Joe C.

The Penn Spinfishers were some of the best spinning reels ever made. My Penn 704 has been in continuous use since 1970 and still going strong. Unfortunately the current owners of Penn have seen fit to discontinue this series, much to the dissappointment of surfcasters up and down the east coast. One of the guys on one of my surfcasting boards even went so far as to lobby Penn for the reintroduction of a revamped 704/706 with several hundred people pledging $100 deposit in advance. They went along with the idea for quite awhile then suddenly announced that it was not possible because they had lost all the tooling.

Bulldog,
Very nice reel, I like them for schoolie stripers in the SF Bay Delta. When you get a chance can you let me know if the clicker is attached to the rotor cup or the back of the spool? Respectfully RV Reclus

Bulldog,
The reason I asked is I've got a friend that claims his clicker is attached to the spool on his 710. On the 710 I've got it's on the rotor cup, my 704, 706, 712 and 714 have the clicker attached to the spool. I want to see if there are any variations with other Spinfishers. Respectfully RV Reclus

Guys, those are all such nice reels, solid and they'll last a lifetime fishing right through any conditions. Thanks for the photos, I enjoyed it but now I'm looking for a Spinfisher.

yeah, that's what I meant.



as a metallurgist and PE, 316 types off the fingers too easy.