Penn Jigmaster 500L

Description

Penn Jigmaster 500L (plus goodies)

Penn Jigmaster 500L (comes with a MYDO gamefish Pack) : Luckily for me, I wound up with two lovely old Penn 500 Jigmaster 500L’s on my boat. I also acquired, luckily again, a matching pair of Fenwick stand-up light tackle rods. Also from the 70s. They are about 8420 specifications but even a little lighter in the tip.

Designed in the 60s, these two reels are Classics. Mine are unrestored. They have odd-coloured body parts. Are held together with all sorts. They are scored, scratched – with a corroded look.  But with all those limitations and age behind them – hells bells can they perform. And be relied upon.

A lot of the appeal to me comes from those rugged, timeless – yet classic looks. Even with a few modernising upgrades, the reels look like they are from the 70s.

These two rigs look majestic out the back (crammed with braid) and I usually fish them as priority rigs these days. Even though they can only handle about 500 meters of 50lb. Putting some lighter braid underneath can get you up to the mandatory 800m or so required for billfish.

Billfish?!

The season opened for us last year (2021) with a massive bang. I hooked 5 marlin in about two or three hours. They all came off, but none was due to tackle failure by the two vintage rigs. I was mainly using too-small hooks again! This time on purpose, we were actually fishing for dorado.

Finally, at the end of the day, a neat little sail came up and next thing my guest Phillip was tied up to it. Small hooks and all. With the Penn 500!

Phillip and the ancient tackle made short work of the 30kg estimated sailfish. Quick release! Maybe 15 minutes. You can watch that movie right here…

The truth is, that the HT-100 drag washers used in these modern versions of the classic, as small as they are, can be tightened up on and expected to perform at about 3 to 5 kgs of drag, for days. Weeks. Months. Years. Decades. So hunting stripes, sails and smaller black and blues, with 30 to 50lb braid, works just fine for me. Small hooks and small baits though – otherwise you can get into trouble for sure.

And a 4:1 ratio is much better than fiddling with two-speed settings – which I think are defunct on small reels. For fish less than 60 or 80kgs that is. All of this is about those-sized fish. Do not put a big bait out with your Jigmaster. Duh!

Penn 500L changeable Spool

When plastic first got invented, it was by some dude named Baeker. And so the very first Penn 500 Jigmasters came with baekerlite spools.

We lost many fish, especially tuna, as those spools collapsed under the elastic pressure behind wound on. Every wrap on a big fish increased the stress. Until eventually…pop!

Nowadays we got aluminium and we are all good to get down and dirty with a bad-tempered GT or something like that. The side plates however are still made from baekerliete.

And so the other day I got someone on a fish and next the Jigmaster just falls apart. There is a kind of quick change mechanism for you to install another spool. You can swap it out kind of quick.  So I grabbed some heavy old leader off the deck, put it through the vacant hole and tied a tight uni knot.  We got the fish out. Yes I will find a new screw and sort that out before next trip!

These are really simple and easy reels. To maintain. To care for. To service. To use.

Use cases

For kayakers, I would recommend nothing else. Nothing else will survive that abuse. Up in Mozambique where I work half the time, all the local kayak guys, fishing for a living, have ancient and barnacled Penn 500 Jigmasters.

For rock and surf guys, this reel will outlast and outcast anything else available.

For charter operations, this reel can be adapted to many different roles. From trolling for tuna to catching bait and bottoms, this reel is tough and happy to just work and work and work.

And now you can buy your very own Penn 500 Jigmaster right here on The Sardine News website.

When you buy your Penn Jigmaster 500L from us here on The Sardine News, you pay a little more. But you get a LOT more.

• FREE delivery anywhere in South Africa
• A MYDO Gamefish Pack worth R500 or so
• Access to MYDO Tackle Talk  so you can learn to tie/repair your traces and ask any advice for any fishing trip you are planning

Gallery of fish caught on Penn Jigmaster 500L

Optional extras are:

A full spool of braid, a top line, leader and knots tied for you. Let us know we will quote you.