Hi guys just thought i would share my expriences with the new penn surfblaster 8000.
All i can say is what a great reel after three hard weeks of fishing two weeks in devon and a week in north wales and thats fishing every day the reel is still as good as the day i bought would like too make a quick thank you too veals for carp in bristol for the information and help in buying this reel was very dubious at the start but so glad i did.
on too the reel, I choose, the reel because i personally wanted too try braid and as one of the spools is braid specific it ended up a no brainer.
So with this in mind i choose 20lb ez braid 0.20mm with a tapered shock leader i did try a non tapered shock but this caught the rings a few times so i went back too the tapered simply for the small knot.
When i loaded the reel the first thing that struck me was the ease at which it loaded and the line lay was perfect, this i believe is down too the slow oscillation,when i bought it, the guy i thought was joking with me when he said that i could run a spirt level across the reel too check the line lay he was not joking it really is that good.
I loaded the second spool with 15lb 0.37mm daiwa sensor but be carefull here as this does eat up a lot of line, capacity stated on the reel is 340m of 0.40mm line personally i would say this is slightly under stated.
On too the fishing and bearing in mind this has not been a great year for me with one thing or another i have only been able too get out and about three times prior too going away i was very apprehensive about the kit and the venues.
We stayed in teignmouth this year and as in previous years decided too fish brixham breakwater as i no its quite a good mark for wrasse.
when we got there i decided to tackle up two rods a fox legacy slr with a shimano xsb and penn powerstick pro surf 13ft with the surfblaster 8000 and at first the mono spool due too the mixed bottom off the breakwater.
First cast out with surfblaster i was very suprised how easy the line flowed off the spool and how much further i was getting in my cast now i dont make any claims to be a great caster or too get silly distances but i do believe i was getting at last 10 yrds extra with this reel with simple over the head cast.
I no it dont sound a lot but its not the extra distance its just ease and use of the reel and every time i re-baited and cast out and retrived the line i would check the spool and and how the line would sit and it was as i had not used the reel.
After a hour and no bites i thought i would try the braid spool.
Bearing in mind i have never been a fan of braid and not really used it before i thought i would jump in at the deep end again with a simple over head throw i was shocked with the shear distance it was too achive.
And after about ten mins a sudden pull on the rod tip and a quick run of line fish on.
At this point i need too mention the drag on the surfblaster one quick turn and its from near free spool to locked down drag very quick and very handy.
As i reeled in the what was on the end of the line put a fair fight several times trying too get too the safety of the rocks however the reel was smooth and strong no crunching or reel wobble just a smooth retrive.
I always pump my reels and never a straight retvive bad exprience when i first started fishing.
As i get it too the rocks up pops this little one sorry about the photo quality camera phone .
After that i was confident in the reel that for the next week we fished the breakwater sadly fishing was poor a few macks and a couple more wrasse also i think weaver but i may be wrong and the picture is poor sorry.
The following week we fished teignmouth beach into the estaury at the mouth and anyone who has fished here knows its a kelp forest but also a bass haven and as i really want my first bass i was keen to get fishing and i knew this would be a good test for the reel we decided to fish both high and low water as we kept getting conflicting information on which is best again with a simple over the head cast i was actually at one point over shooting the mark and was pleasently suprised with this unfortunately fishing was very poor and most of the anglers around me and myself blanked all week however i did get tangled quite a few times and this may sound strange was glad about this as it gave my an idea how the reel would cope and and cope it did at one point i retrived a kelp branch still growing out of the stone also quite a bit of lost tackle and other peoples sinkers and rigs still conected so not a complete loss lol!! we went on to fish the open beach and this time it was off the ground casts and again the reel coped really well and i gained at least 20yrds on my cast which i am very pleased with.
Two weeks latter we went up too north wales around prestatyn between the two trips all i have done with the reel is give a quick wash down after each session nothing fancy and no major clean.
Never going too north wales before it was like being a newby again and i would say most of the week was spent trying too find subtle venues for myself and my father as he has had a heart attack and finds it difficult too walk most of the low water marks are too far for him get too and after a bit of research we found out that most marks rhyl,Talacre,ffirth beach all fish better on low tides so are Experience was not that great however the surfblaster 8000 again preformed very well casting well and after constent casting and retriving still was in top shape.
On the last day we found a little place called rohs on sea just next too colwyn bay with a great prom that you can fish from your car and good water depth at high tide again it was the surfblaster 8000 that i used and again it performed with out trouble and on the second cast out rod tip bent over and after a fair fight which again the reel performed great a 2lb gurnard popped its head up a really nice fish again sorry about the quality of the pics.
All in all i have been fishing for about 12 or so years now all sea fishing i have owned all sorts of reels 3 penn 850 which did not last 2 penn 750 which after 4 years one is still going strong several okuma reels and two shimano one being the xsb and one a xsa and these reels take a lot of beating but and i will say time will tell i believe penn have finally got a winner with the new surfblaster 8000 and i for one will always choose this over the other reels in my collection i have always been a fan of penns rods as well as fox and greys rods sorry if this is a long post but i really did need to sound the praise of this new reel in fact i have just ordered another but this time the slightly more expensive penn affinity reel which is basically the the same reel but with extra bearings.
Now too bring on the winter session and too get down two severn beach and too really give this reel some stick.
tight lines guys.
All i can say is what a great reel after three hard weeks of fishing two weeks in devon and a week in north wales and thats fishing every day the reel is still as good as the day i bought would like too make a quick thank you too veals for carp in bristol for the information and help in buying this reel was very dubious at the start but so glad i did.
on too the reel, I choose, the reel because i personally wanted too try braid and as one of the spools is braid specific it ended up a no brainer.
So with this in mind i choose 20lb ez braid 0.20mm with a tapered shock leader i did try a non tapered shock but this caught the rings a few times so i went back too the tapered simply for the small knot.
When i loaded the reel the first thing that struck me was the ease at which it loaded and the line lay was perfect, this i believe is down too the slow oscillation,when i bought it, the guy i thought was joking with me when he said that i could run a spirt level across the reel too check the line lay he was not joking it really is that good.
I loaded the second spool with 15lb 0.37mm daiwa sensor but be carefull here as this does eat up a lot of line, capacity stated on the reel is 340m of 0.40mm line personally i would say this is slightly under stated.
On too the fishing and bearing in mind this has not been a great year for me with one thing or another i have only been able too get out and about three times prior too going away i was very apprehensive about the kit and the venues.
We stayed in teignmouth this year and as in previous years decided too fish brixham breakwater as i no its quite a good mark for wrasse.
when we got there i decided to tackle up two rods a fox legacy slr with a shimano xsb and penn powerstick pro surf 13ft with the surfblaster 8000 and at first the mono spool due too the mixed bottom off the breakwater.
First cast out with surfblaster i was very suprised how easy the line flowed off the spool and how much further i was getting in my cast now i dont make any claims to be a great caster or too get silly distances but i do believe i was getting at last 10 yrds extra with this reel with simple over the head cast.
I no it dont sound a lot but its not the extra distance its just ease and use of the reel and every time i re-baited and cast out and retrived the line i would check the spool and and how the line would sit and it was as i had not used the reel.
After a hour and no bites i thought i would try the braid spool.
Bearing in mind i have never been a fan of braid and not really used it before i thought i would jump in at the deep end again with a simple over head throw i was shocked with the shear distance it was too achive.
And after about ten mins a sudden pull on the rod tip and a quick run of line fish on.
At this point i need too mention the drag on the surfblaster one quick turn and its from near free spool to locked down drag very quick and very handy.
As i reeled in the what was on the end of the line put a fair fight several times trying too get too the safety of the rocks however the reel was smooth and strong no crunching or reel wobble just a smooth retrive.
I always pump my reels and never a straight retvive bad exprience when i first started fishing.
As i get it too the rocks up pops this little one sorry about the photo quality camera phone .
After that i was confident in the reel that for the next week we fished the breakwater sadly fishing was poor a few macks and a couple more wrasse also i think weaver but i may be wrong and the picture is poor sorry.
The following week we fished teignmouth beach into the estaury at the mouth and anyone who has fished here knows its a kelp forest but also a bass haven and as i really want my first bass i was keen to get fishing and i knew this would be a good test for the reel we decided to fish both high and low water as we kept getting conflicting information on which is best again with a simple over the head cast i was actually at one point over shooting the mark and was pleasently suprised with this unfortunately fishing was very poor and most of the anglers around me and myself blanked all week however i did get tangled quite a few times and this may sound strange was glad about this as it gave my an idea how the reel would cope and and cope it did at one point i retrived a kelp branch still growing out of the stone also quite a bit of lost tackle and other peoples sinkers and rigs still conected so not a complete loss lol!! we went on to fish the open beach and this time it was off the ground casts and again the reel coped really well and i gained at least 20yrds on my cast which i am very pleased with.
Two weeks latter we went up too north wales around prestatyn between the two trips all i have done with the reel is give a quick wash down after each session nothing fancy and no major clean.
Never going too north wales before it was like being a newby again and i would say most of the week was spent trying too find subtle venues for myself and my father as he has had a heart attack and finds it difficult too walk most of the low water marks are too far for him get too and after a bit of research we found out that most marks rhyl,Talacre,ffirth beach all fish better on low tides so are Experience was not that great however the surfblaster 8000 again preformed very well casting well and after constent casting and retriving still was in top shape.
On the last day we found a little place called rohs on sea just next too colwyn bay with a great prom that you can fish from your car and good water depth at high tide again it was the surfblaster 8000 that i used and again it performed with out trouble and on the second cast out rod tip bent over and after a fair fight which again the reel performed great a 2lb gurnard popped its head up a really nice fish again sorry about the quality of the pics.
All in all i have been fishing for about 12 or so years now all sea fishing i have owned all sorts of reels 3 penn 850 which did not last 2 penn 750 which after 4 years one is still going strong several okuma reels and two shimano one being the xsb and one a xsa and these reels take a lot of beating but and i will say time will tell i believe penn have finally got a winner with the new surfblaster 8000 and i for one will always choose this over the other reels in my collection i have always been a fan of penns rods as well as fox and greys rods sorry if this is a long post but i really did need to sound the praise of this new reel in fact i have just ordered another but this time the slightly more expensive penn affinity reel which is basically the the same reel but with extra bearings.
Now too bring on the winter session and too get down two severn beach and too really give this reel some stick.
tight lines guys.
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