Not only am I a professional fisherman, I also use to have a Penn reel repair business (that I sold). Penn design wasn't always that great. I got to test the 950ssm series before they hit the market. I helped them perfect it. I got a Stella 20000 and it was smoother than a Penn. Only problem is, just 8 years later the bail roller bearing got corroded and Shimano DOES NOT have the parts to replace it. They don't make them anymore.
You can get Penn parts for very old models but Shimano stops making parts in just 5 years on models that they have modified. I searched many places to find parts to fix it but at 8 years, I was just too late. Now I have a $1000 paper weight.
Capt. Jeff
