One simple addition/change which I think improves a number of different spinning reels

The Penn Spinfisher series of spinning reels is now on the VII range, and a while back I got hold of one in the 2500 size for a bit of a thrashing. I believe there are a few minor changes to this new VII series, but in terms of looks we are talking about a very similar looking spinning reel to the 2500 from the previous Spinfisher VI series - with the same t-shape handle. You know how much I love the more expensive Penn Slammer IV 2500 reel, but for some reason I didn’t fall hard for the Spinfisher VI 2500 whereas I really like the slightly larger 3500 size Spinfisher VI. With its t-shape handle………..

Yep, give me the round EVA handle from the Slammer IV 2500 any day of the week, and then on the larger 3500 and 4500 Slammers I choose to change the very lightweight, round gold coloured handle to the chunkier style EVA knob which comes on the box. I guess it’s because of the cheaper price that you don’t get these handle options with the Spinfisher reels. When I went out fishing a few times with this newer Spinfisher VII 2500 reel I once again kinda liked it but that was about it.

Penn Spinfisher VII 2500 with a Slammer IV 2500 handle

But then I had an idea. I took the handle off a Penn Slammer IV 2500 and lo and behold it fits perfectly on the cheaper Spinfisher VII 2500, and indeed the larger 3500. I took the Spinfisher VII 2500 out fishing with this “new” handle and straight away it felt like a different and much better spinning reel. For sure you’ve still got the various Penn reel quirks which you either choose to live with or not - need to underfill, might need to mess around with spacers to get a good line-level etc. - but from that one bass session the Spinfisher VII 2500 suddenly made a whole lot more sense to me. All from changing the reel handle to something which isn’t that t-shape which a lot of tackle companies put on their spinning reels. We’re talking about what I think is a really nice spinning reel to fish with, as long as you underfill it a bit.

Fishing with the Penn Spinfisher VII 2500

I guess that a lot of anglers aren’t remotely bothered by the shape of a spinning reel handle, but I am. This blog post is once again nothing more than my thoughts and personal opinions, but if I think about why I like the Slammer IV 2500 so much, some of it is because I find the handle so good. Same with the more expensive Penn Authority 2500 and 3500 reels - the perfect handle in my opinion. Simply changing the handle over on the Spinfisher VII 2500 gives me a spinning reel which I really like. I don’t yet know how the reel is going to hold up in the longer-term, but that simple handle change makes a lot of difference to me.

Penn Spinfisher VII 2500 with a Gomexus Power Handle

You may well not have a spare Slammer IV 2500 reel handle lying about of course, so to be fair I took it off the Spinfisher VII 2500 and instead screwed in a third party Gomexus Power Handle in the 65mm size. I have to acknowledge that this now adds £29.99 to the price of the reel - it’s a complete, screw-in handle rather than just a handle knob - but for honestly how much better it makes the reel feel to me I happen to think it’s worth it. I don’t actually know if you can buy a Slammer IV 2500 handle separately by the way, but it might be worth an inquiry.

How about other spinning reel brands? The Daiwa BG MQ 4000D-XH spinning reel might well have ultimately failed on me - review here - but it’s a stunning reel to actually fish with, and to me it’s a miles better reel when you change from the t-shape handle over to that rather lovely Gomexus Power Knob EVA handle. I am looking forward to getting my hands on one of the newer generation of Shimano Stradic spinning reels, mainly because I remain so impressed by the stunning little Shimano Stradic FL 2500HG spinning reel which has had a serious thrashing my end.

Previous generation Shimano Stradic FL 2500HG spinning reel with a Gomexus Power Knob EVA - different reel!

But that little handle has always slightly bothered me about the reel, so I thought why not replace it with that chunky Gomexus Power Knob EVA. You know how crap I am at DIY, but changing over is so easy to do even I can do it. Which I did, and because the only way you can get a feel for something like this is to take the stuff out fishing, off I went. Talk about a different spinning reel. I seriously like this Shimano Stradic FL 2500HG anyway - make sure to grease the line roller assembly - but now with that Gomexus handle on it as per above this awesome little reel feels a whole lot better all over again. Almost can’t believe how different it feels in fact.

Shimano Vanquish C5000XG spinning reel, it comes with this lovely round handle

If you go looking, you might have noticed that Shimano in their mighty wisdom for some reason chooses to put nice round handles on some of their C5000 spinning reels. They don’t exactly highlight the fact that their C5000 reels are the same body size as their 4000 reels in the same series - C stands for Compact - and that you get a larger capacity spool and I guess slightly larger balearm, but there has to be an argument that so many of their generally very lovely spinning reels are so lightweight there is almost no difference to fishing with their smaller 2500 and C3000 reels these days. But of course you tend to get that rounder handle on the C5000 reels which I far prefer. Or you could go for the smaller 2500 and C3000 reels and change the t-shape handle for a round, third-party add-on. Same with a Shimano 4000. Or you might not be remotely bothered and just go with whatever handle a particular reel comes with. If I might justify myself here, I woke up at 3am this morning because I was so excited to hear the new album from the Portuguese black metal maestros Gaerea which is out today (called “Coma”, wow). Yep. my brain is bouncing away! You all have a good weekend.

Penn Authority 2500 - why can’t every spinning reel handle be like this?!

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