Some Battle Cat Rods and Fathom ready for combat[/caption][caption id="attachment_1198" align="alignnone" width="1137"]
FTH12 Penn Fathom cranking down on a big blue cat on the TN River[/caption][caption id="attachment_1199" align="alignnone" width="1137"]
Another big flathead that got the beatdown by the Penn Fathom in the hands of UT Catfishing Clubs commander-in-chief, Marc Cooper[/caption][caption id="attachment_1200" align="alignnone" width="1137"]
Palms so well![/caption][caption id="attachment_1201" align="alignnone" width="1137"]
25lbs of drag make sure those runners don't run very long[/caption][caption id="attachment_1202" align="alignnone" width="1280"]
At one point, this musky actually thought it had a chance against the Fathom.[/caption]By Matt Lynch
At the young age of thirteen, I threw down my first hard earned money on the counter at a local tackle store. Grinning ear to ear, I was finally buying my first "serious" catfish reel. Having had my fill of lesser equipment wavering in the presence of Tennessee's behemoth catfish I elected to purchase a Penn 209M Levelwind. I didn't know much about reels yet, but I did know that anytime I looked at pictures of the old hardcore cat guys that knew what it took to muscle up those volkswagon sized flatheads from the snags they called home, they usually had a big Penn reel. Same for all the pictures and shows with saltwater guys needing the best of the best. They turn to Penn, so surely it had to be the answer to my own delima.
Fast forward to today and I've had alot of catfish reels over the years. Although the Penn was a brute, I was often enchanted with some of the other more, shall we say...refined reels. Reels I won't name in this article as they are still great reels but I've noticed something. They've all been either rebuilt/upgraded or they are in a state of disrepair just waiting for their time to finally give up the ghost and go off in the mail for an overhaul. That old Penn I first bought sixteen years ago that I only oiled for the first time last year though? Why it's still doing just fine with little more than some cosmetic wear to its stalwart surface even after all these years with zero maintenance and squaring off against so many monster flatheads. Sure, it's abit behind the times with its slower gear ratio, but my son will be using this reel long after I'm gone. Infact recently I acquired a few old antique wall hanger rod and reel combos from a good friend. When loading them up in my 4Runner I noticed one was infact...an old Penn. Jokingly I told him this one just needs some new line probably, but little did I know, it was no joke. After removing an ancient birdsnest of heavy dacron, I engaged the spool and it began to rotate freely. Just as smoothly infact as my own original. How many decades of abuse it had witnessed is beyond my knowledge but it was a mixture of colors from green, gray, brown, with plenty of crud hiding its original color. Two hours worth of detail stripping and scraping out crusty old grease and polishing with a mixture of chemicals, it was now about as nice as it was going to get. So I threw some Big Game 40lb on it and put it in the stable with the other old warhorses.
Now the reason for all this backstory is a good one, because although the same old 209M is still in production, Penn has a new range of offerings on the table. Meet the Penn Fathom series. The Fathom series is available in both lever and star drag, 2 speed, levelwind, and non levelwind. Although I'll be adding more to the inventory, I opted for the small Fathom FTH12 initially. I was looking for a reel to outfit with 80-100lb braid for both catfish and muskie and I wanted a non-levelwind. Now to many muskie guys this is quite an oddity, as Penn typically isn't even thought of in the muskie community, and I know only one other muskie guy personally who prefers non-levelwind. Because of this part of the requirement, I needed a reel I could palm, as that's how I muskie fish. the FHT12 fits snugly in the palm of your hand and is a beauty to fish with all day long. With its 6.0:1 gear ratio it also makes easy work of any muskie lure you need to crank in or other large baits. It also boasts the HT-100 drag system with a 25lb drag, heavier drag being available on the larger models, and the first muskie that squared off against it found out the hard way.
Now for its secondary duty, catfish, it shines equally with a very audible baitclicker that is also recessed so that it don't become accidentally engaged. It has Penn's Live Spindle design so rest assured if you need to launch an 8oz sinker and half a skipjack over the horizon it won't be a problem on the Fathom. At 15.5oz with all metal frame and sideplates it won't wear out prematurely either and should be more than capable of lasting a lifetime or two. Line capacity for catfishing is usually abit more critical than for muskie since a big blue in open water current may rob your spool of more than half its capacity during a brawl. The capacity for the FTH12 is 360/10 300/12 230/15 for mono and 525/15 420/20 320/30 for braided line and the spool is marked with lines to have a visual reference for how much line you have out. It also features a very large but comfortable power handle with a rubberized grip surface. Nicely knurled surfaces on both the spool tension cap and the lever ensure your fingers won't be slipping.
After spending abit more time with this setup, the one and only thing that was abit of a letdown, was when flipping the reel over and looking at the foot I noticed a small sticker saying "Made in China". Initially this felt like a slap in the face after always knowing Penn as the all American reel company but I guess everyone has their price when outsourcing becomes an option. Even with this on my mind before my first use on the water, it never let me down and never betrayed its strong roots from the same place my other unfailing Penns came from. It takes little effort to get use to engaging the spool manually after the cast which it doesn't do for you unlike some other reels but if you're familiar with these style of reels it's common and more importantly it's simple. And because it is simple, it is one less thing that can go wrong. There isn't alot more I can say about it at the present other than more praise of how well it functions and how solid it feels. I've had reels that I questioned when a big fish was on them before but this isn't the same. It feels as solid as a boat trailer winch clamped onto your reel seat. So far it's taken several sizable muskie, striper, and some true monster catfish on the Tennessee River without breaking a sweat. It leaves nothing short of great impressions on the other hands that get to fight a fish on it. If you're looking for a bulletproof conventional baitcasting reel that will outlast you then the Penn Fathom series may be the reel for you. You can check them out on Penns website and read more about the many models they offer. http://www.pennfishing.com/PENN-Fathom/PENN-Reels-Conventional-Reels-PENN-Fathom,default,sc.html
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