Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

When I’m at the ICAST show or in tackle emporiums when I’m on away-trips to “salty” destinations, I’m often looking at a variety of saltwater gear. That’s not because I fish saltwater often enough to warrant owning a full set of ocean-fishing gear. It’s because there is a lot of stuff designed to be used in the salt that plays quite nicely in the Great Lakes. That’s what I was doing at the salty-section of the Penn booth at last year’s ICAST.

What I found was a line of rods called the “Mariner III Boat Conventional.” The display started with short little brutes-pretty much what I consider to be saltwater “boat” rods – but at the end of the display was a 9-footer, rated medium (by saltwater standards) that caught my eye. Most of the saltwater boat captains I’ve been with would have viewed a 9-footer as a pole vault stick. As a Great Lakes captain, I viewed it as a diver rod. I hefted it, wobbled it, gauged the bend and pronounced it diver-worthy.

Let’s look at a few of the details in this rod. First off, the rod is made of graphite and fiberglass. An all fiberglass rod would be heavy with a slow action, but it would be as tough as a pole vault stick. But by engineering it with both glass and graphite, the rod’s weight is reduced, it’s action is faster and it’s still plenty tough. That’s important for a diver rod since when the diver is being trolled, there’s a constant heavy strain on the rod and when a fish strikes the rod has to go from heavy strain to extreme.           

 Penn has fitted this rod with their own one-piece stainless steel Dura-Guides. Dura-Guides eliminate the need to fuse a ceramic or other type of insert to protect the frame of each guide. The extra-hard stainless is plenty durable for years of use with mono, fluoro or braided lines.

 The EVA Torque grips (another Penn exclusive) are substantial, plenty long to fit comfortably in any rod holder. The feature I’ve come to embrace is how the foregrip is triangular in cross section. That gives it a comfortable feel in hand and helps eliminate the rod from twisting when being gripped and the reel’s handle is being cranked.

 Penn Mariner IIIs are mostly available at retailers who handle saltwater tackle but you’ll find them at Amazon.com or at www.purefishing.com as well as at other online outlets at surprisingly affordable prices.