THE FOUNDING OF A GREAT REEL COMPANY

Post WW1 Europe still lacked opportunities in 1922 when a young machinist named Otto Henze

decided to leave Germany to pursue his dreams in the USA. A luck would have it, Henze was hired as a machinist at the Ocean City Reels Company in Philadelphia. With every gear he made, Henze dreamed of owning his own fishing reel company. After ten years of making reels for someone else, Henze left Ocean City Reels and started his own fishing reel company called Penn Fishing Tackle Manufacturing Company. In 1933, he began selling reels like the Sea Hawk, Bayside and Long Beach for use in salt water.

Early success spurred new designs and in 1936 PENN introduced its most famous reel, the "Senator", a revolutionary reel capable of challenging the most powerful game fish. Henze died suddenly in 1948 but fortunately his wife, Martha, took responsibility for running the company, and PENN continued to prosper, and by 2000 Penn reels held over 800 IGFA records. Penn has been a leader in the manufacture of record setting reels for salt water anglers. Their Spinfisher series is a standard for surf anglers on both coasts and abroad. The Company offers rods, reels and combos for all salt and fresh water applications.

To see their full line of fishing gear visit https://bit.ly/3bbXd2U