After 15 years of hard use my old fiberglass rod and Penn 109 reel are about irrepairable and ready to be replaced. Since it's been quite a few years since I have had to look for new gaer, does anyone have a good recomendation?

I like the Penn 109 because you can click the clicker over and the spool works in both directions which is convenient for letting line up and down for mooching without clicking back and forth all the time. The Penn 109 made it easy to use my thumb for the drag too. I don't know if any other reel has that feature.

Price is a consideration but not the only one. I want to be able to fish from the downriggers and I also do some mooching and jigging. All in saltwater although I hear the same setup can also be used for sturgen, which I would like to try.

I know there is a lot of experience here on the board so any suggestions are appreciated.