Shimano Vanford C5000XG spinning reel review (interesting dilemma) - around £200 here in the UK if you can find one

Back in March I wrote a sort of “initial impressions” piece on this Shimano Vanford C5000XG spinning reel, so whilst it’s only the end of June now and therefore I can’t yet tell you if this thing is going to last like you hope it might for the price - however long that actually is of course - I know enough about this spinning reel to be able to tell what I think about it so far………….

And in some respects this Shimano Vanford C5000XG spinning reel which is in fact the same body size as the Shimano Vanford 4000XG throws up an interesting sort of dilemma for me. I do tend to love a 2500/3000 size Shimano spinning reel on a 9’ lure rod I might use for a lot of my regular bass lure fishing, indeed I happen to think that both the Shimano Stradic 2500HG-FL and the Shimano Vanford C3000HG spinning reels sit perfectly on both of the 9’ lure rods I have done with Savage Gear and which I bloody hope will be in the shops later this week or early next - the SGS5 9’ 9-35g and the SGS8 9’ 9-35g. Lightweight lure rods with really lightweight spinning reels, and although a part of me does also like how a heavier spinning reel can work well on some of the more regular lure rods, there is no getting away from how good setups like these can feel. I have deliberately fished this Shimano Vanford C5000XG on all seven of the new Savage Gear SGS5 and SGS8 lure rods and I like how it sits on all of them when fishing in a wide range of conditions.

With this Shimano Vanford C5000XG we’ve got a spinning reel which is the size of a Shimano 4000 so it’s that next size up over their 2500/3000 reels - but it’s so ridiculously lightweight at 238g loaded up with braid that in many respects it feels no different if you strap on this Vanford C5000XG instead of a smaller 2500/3000 reel. I like the slightly bigger profile of this reel and how it sits on a number of different lure rods, and I am a complete sucker for the round EVA handle on this Shimano Vanford C5000XG. I love it. I don’t know the new Vanquish range of spinning reels but for around the £200 mark for this Shimano Vanford C5000XG we’ve got a reel which is lighter than my smaller, beloved, and now discontinued Shimano Twin Power XD C3000HG (250g loaded with line), and it’s only 5g heavier than the stunning little Shimano Stradic 2500HG-FL (233g loaded with line).

Which at the end of the day doesn’t make a whole lot of difference to me when I am also such a fan of the somewhat heavier, Shimano 4000 size Penn Slammer III 3500 (403g loaded with line, if you can find one in stock!) - but I know it does for a lot of lure anglers, hence my talking about it above. I don’t know how much lighter a spinning reel can actually get than the one I am reviewing here, but a part of me which doesn’t know very much at all about engineering kinda likes how a bigger spinning reel with bigger gears and bearings and so on surely has to be a bit tougher and potentially longer lasting than a smaller equivalent? Or do spinning reels do not work along those lines? Whatever the case may be, this Shimano Vanford C5000XG is everything you would expect a £200 Shimano spinning reel to be.

Ultra-smooth when you turn the handle (obviously), very light as we have already talked about, perfect line lay, not a single hint of a wind knot or any other braid issues when casting any lures into any winds I have faced (note from the photos how I have been fishing it filled right up with my favourite Sufix 131 braid), the handle design is perfection for me, the drag seems fine but you know I am not overly concerned with drags and UK bass fishing, I don’t personally notice any casting distance increases via the “long stroke spool” but it all works just fine, indeed the only gripe I have about this reel is how relatively short and fat the reel stem feels with the way I hold a lure rod. It’s not remotely a deal-breaker with how quickly we get used to things, but I notice it. I am guessing that the materials used to help make this reel so light call for the slightly shorter and fatter than usual reel stem, but give me the narrower Slammer 3500 reel stem and how it sits between my fingers any day of the week.

Save for me needing to see how this reel feels after say a year or so of use, I can’t really see how a lure angler who doesn’t need to be drowning their gear could go wrong if they want to drop £200 on a spinning reel. For all the fancy X-Protect diagrams such as the one above which let’s be honest don’t really say very much, I don’t personally believe that any Shimano or Daiwa spinning reels I am aware of or have fished with like being drowned or repeatedly covered in saltwater. I know this, I allow for this, and I don’t buy spinning reels from these companies to do what I trust my Slammer to do in the surf etc.

So whilst this stunning Shimano Vanford C5000XG spinning reel (which as I said is the same body size as the Vanford 4000XG but with a larger spool capacity I believe) seems to be a lot of very modern spinning reel for £200, I believe the main issue now is trying to find items like these in stock. For various reasons the global tackle trade is all over the place at the moment with supply and stock levels, so I’d love to see how the slightly heavier and cheaper Shimano Stradic C5000XG-FL spinning reel which I can see in stock here (looks like the same handle design as this Vanford) would stack up against this Vanford C5000XG. I have had a lot of fishing time with the smaller Shimano Stradic 2500HG-FL so I see no reason why the larger 5000/4000 versions would not be just as nice, but it can’t be anything more than speculation on my part at the moment because I have never seen a Stradic C5000XG-FL in the flesh. Whatever the case and however much money you want to spend on your fishing tackle, have we ever had it so good with what we can get these days? If it’s in stock of course………….

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