Your Penn reel will last a lifetime if you take care of it. While most repairs are best done at an authorized service center, all owners can and should do routine maintenance. Here is what to do to keep your reel in top form. 1. Rinse your reel gently in fresh water after every fishing trip. This is especially important at the end of the season. If you don’t, corrosion will build up in the off season and could make your reel useless next year. After rinsing, let your reel dry completely, then wrap it in a soft cloth or put it in the box it came in. Do not seal it in a plastic bag or internal moisture will cause rust. Some people like to submerge their reels completely in fresh water. This is not recommended by Penn but may be a good idea under some circumstances. If you do this, be sure to tighten the drag first so that water does not get into the drag system. Remember to loosen the drag completely and back off on the end bearings before putting your reel away at the end of the season. 2. After rinsing and drying you reel, it is a good idea to apply oil or grease. Be sure to lubricate the handle, the levelwind, and spool end bearings; you’ll need to remove end bearings on most models to lubricate the spool end. When you replace the bearings, it is important to leave a tiny bit of side to side play in the spool; otherwise, you’ll ruin the end bearings. It is a good idea to check the spool bearings frequently during the season. Next, remove the handle lock screw, then the handle screw so you can squirt some oil in the gear sleeve (it is almost impossible to get oil through the oil nipples). You may want to spray WD-40 lightly on the surface of the reel. WD-40 isn’t really a lubricant — in fact, it cuts grease so it should never be used inside a reel — but it does displace water and is great for cleaning the surface of fishing reels. 3. Following just these two steps will greatly increase the longevity of your reel. However, saltwater can also get inside reels and when it does, it cannot be removed by a surface rinse. Fortunately, you can open most reels to check for internal corrosion without fear. Most Penn conventional reels — for example, models 310, 320 and 330 of the GTi series, the 109, 209 and 309, and all Senator, Long Beach and Jigmaster models — can be opened by removing the outside screws on the handle hand side of the reel. Do not remove the 4 inside screws, the ones closest to the handle, unless you are mechanically inclined and not afraid of springs popping out and burying themselves in your shag carpet. Once the right side is removed, you’ll see a large brass plate called the bridge assembly. If there is much corrosion on this plate, you’ve got two options: Take the reel to someone who can completely dismantle the reel and clean it, or get out the parts schematic — many are available online for free — and do the work yourself. The point is that corrosion on the bridge almost always indicates serious internal corrosion, corrosion that will only get worse over time. If there is little or no corrosion on the bridge, you’re in luck and need to do only a couple things before putting your reel back together. First, apply reel grease to the gears. Next, use a toothbrush to paint a thin layer of grease on all internal metal parts, including the bridge and clicker spring, to reduce future corrosion. Finally, grease the side plate screws and put your reel together. The levelwind assemblies on Penn 209s and 309s will fall out when your remove the right side plate. This isn’t a problem. When you are ready to put your reel back together, remove the right side levelwind bearing and put the reel together while holding the levelwind guard in place. Once the reel is together, you can install the levelwind worm gear by pushing it out through the right side plate, then pushing it back to seat inside the left side worm gear. Carefully screw in the right side levelwind bearing and the levelwind is good to go. It is important that the grooved post at the top of the line guard be lined up carefully and that the worm gear has a small amount of side-to side play. 4. If you keep your reel clean and free of corrosion, this simple maintenance is enough to keep your reel catching fish for quite a long time. However, some parts do wear and need to be replaced periodically. The most common parts I replace at my shop are drag washers. These are inexpensive but do require a complete disassembly of the reel before they can be replaced. Drag washers need to be replaced if (a) the line jerks when it is pulled out slowly at a moderate drag setting or (b) if it is difficult to fine tune the drag; i.e., turning the star a small amount quickly adjusts from a very light to a very heavy drag. Levelwind reels will need to have their levelwind pawls and worm gears replaced periodically. There is a good chance your pawl is bad if the line does not lay evenly on your reel. On the other hand, if the levelwind gets stuck at one place, odds are that the levelwind worm gear and pawl both need to be replaced. If you have any questions about fishing reels, you can reach Taku Reel Repair at ak-fish on eBay or wsbrown@gci.net.