The new Shimano Vanford C3000HG spinning reel - initial impressions

A description of the new Vanford range of spinning reels from the Shimano USA website: “Sculpted from over a decade of engineering advancement and a rich lineage of predecessors, the new Vanford tests the boundaries of technology and engineering found in spinning reels. Built upon a CI4+ body for both a lightweight feel and carbon rigidity, the Vanford incorporates a MagnumLite (MGL) Rotor for up to 48% less rotational inertia than traditional rotor construction for a quick response in critical situations. The Vanford features Shimano’s cold-forged HAGANE Gear and many of Shimano’s premium technologies for increased fishing performance and years of durability. Vanford’s SilentDrive and MicroModule Gear II technologies combine to produce a new level of smooth rotational performance while reducing overall reel vibration. Vanford also incorporates Long Stroke Spool technology to increase casting distance while producing a smoother line lay on the spool during retrieval. X-Protect technology and water-channeling construction enhances Vanford’s water resistance and overall durability — an important feature for a reel sure to be found in inshore environments. From ice fishing and drop-shot fishing for smallies in the sweetwater to stalking tailing fish in the flats, the Vanford has no equal. A legend is born.”

Crumbs. This little Shimano Vanford C3000HG sounds more like a spacecraft designed for going to Mars than a spinning reel for going fishing! There’s a lot of stuff in these new Vanford reels which I don’t know much about and to be perfectly honest I don’t really care. I am only interested in how a spinning reel works or doesn’t work for me and how I go about my fishing. My understanding is that this new range of Vanford range of spinning reels is a replacement for the Shimano Stradic Ci4+ FB spinning reels I have seen but never fished with, and from their prices it looks like the current and slightly cheaper Stradic FL range now sits just beneath these Vanford reels as Shimano’s mid-price reel ranges. And by no means am I saying that spinning reels in the £150-200 range are “budget” reels, rather that if you go looking at the Shimano Vanquish, Stella and Exsence spinning reel prices then you will understand why I refer to the newish Stradic FL and brand new Vanford ranges as mid-price for Shimano.

To be perfectly honest it’s getting harder and harder for somebody non-technical like to me to review spinning reels like this, and that is not in any way a criticism of the reel, rather that gear like this is often so bloody good now I can’t really see how the next generations can possibly get any better, and/or how can a Shimano or a Daiwa cram any more good stuff into a spinning reel for the price. But then I guess I could have written this exact paragraph ten years ago. Each time a new spinning reel like this comes out and I go fishing with it I wonder how much more sublime it could be to lure fish with, because this new Vanford is something else. I loaded it up with the braid that I think a new reel like this deserves, Sufix 131, and damn you Sufix for making what has become my favourite ever braid and taking me away from what are a fair few bloody good sub-£20 braids. I haven’t fished with any Daiwa spinning reels for a while now, but over three years ago I invested in the stunning little Shimano Twin Power XD C3000HG spinning reel, and I love it as much now as I did when I first went fishing with it. At the time I thought that surely this is about as good as a little spinning reel can get for the kind of fishing I tend to do, but then a year or so ago along comes this equally stunning Shimano Stradic 2500HG-FL (same size as the Stradic C3000HG-FL) that seems to have everything and possibly more in it that the more expensive Twin Power XD has, but for far less money than I originally paid for the Twin Power XD - and if anything this amazing little Stradic FL feels a bit more “together” again than the Twin Power XD.

So as per the marketing text at the top of this blog post from the Shimano USA website, if these new Vanford spinning reels have been designed to cope with the massive US inshore (saltwater, mainly boat based) market and species such as redfish, bonefish, jacks, speckled trout and various snappers, then they should be more than up to our rather lovely but not exactly seriously big bass and how we go about fishing for them. I am not about to take this Vanford or indeed any other Shimano or Daiwa spinning reels out into hectic surf conditions when I have seen far too many of these types of reels killed in a session or two in the past when fishing like this. Nope, until something better comes along for how I go lure fishing in the surf especially, the Penn Slammer III in the 3500 or 4500 sizes are those reels for me. As much as I love my Slammer 3500 though, you can’t get away from how different it feels to this new Shimano Vanford C3000HG. If the Slammer is my Epic Berlingo with its slightly rough around the edges but also really bloody good workability, then this Vanford looks like one of those SUV things that so many people seem to drive these days and which look like they could take on a bit of the rough stuff but are in fact better suited to school runs and the treacherous gravel drives of the home counties. Finesse but with enough guts.

This Vanford C3000HG is almost ridiculously lightweight - 191g loaded up with braid - and you know how smooth it is to turn the one piece handle on this thing. I really like the idea of a one piece handle because I can still remember the handle on my old Shimano Sustain 4000FG breaking clean off right in the middle of a fishing session when we were hammering a bunch of bass. I have seen a few YouTube videos extolling the virtue of this apparently “48% less rotational inertia than traditional rotor construction for a quick response in critical situations”, but I can tell you now that even if this is the case it means absolutely nothing in a bass lure fishing situation. Take it from me, this Vanford is as smooth as any spinning reel I have ever turned the handle on, and even if I can sit here at my desk and convince myself that there might be a tiny bit of a difference in how fast the pickup is when you first go to turn the handle on a new retrieve, it means bugger all when I am out fishing in the real world. I hate the expression buttery smooth to describe a spinning reel, but I can’t get away from this Vanford being the very definition of smooth. Damn it’s impressive, and you know how lovely a reel like this is to lure fish with. Hell, it makes me feel all finesse, and that’s got to be worth the price alone!

From time to time I do wonder firstly how light our spinning reels can actually get before they weigh nothing, and secondly whether lighter and lighter reels are making more of the lure rods we might use not always feel quite right. I know some anglers who obsess about the lightest setups possible and I completely understand this when you could be holding a rod and reel for hours on end and casting I don’t know how many times, but sometimes I strap my heavier Slammer III 3500 (403g loaded with line) to a different lure rod and for some reason that bit more weight towards the butt of the rod actually feels better when you’re out fishing instead of sitting there and balancing a rod and reel on your finger which to me means sod all anyway. Saying all that though, this Vanford C3000HG is the lightest spinning reel I have put on my awesome Shimano Exsence Genos S90MH/R 9' 8-48g lure rod which is meant to weigh 132g - and the combination of this rod and reel feels bloody lovely. But the same rod also feels just as good with the same size but very slightly heavier Shimano Stradic 2500HG (233g loaded with line) on there, and I have also fished this rod with the Penn Spinfisher VI 3500 and the Penn Slammer III 3500 and after ten minutes or so the heavier overall feel to the setup feels great.

What I am most interested in is whether this Shimano Vanford stays nice and smooth for a decent period of time, so I will report back from time to time and let you know how things are going. I will look after it the same as I would any other spinning reel, and I will do what I can to not drown it in saltwater. I understand why some of you might lust after a Stella or a Vanquish or something similar, but as much as I am a tackle tart of the highest order, we are getting so much good stuff in these two Shimano mid-price ranges of reels these days that in some respects I fail to see what more we need for our bass fishing. What we need and what we want are often very different things of course, but of more interest to me at the moment is if this slightly more lightweight and expensive Shimano Vanford C3000HG feels any more premium via real fishing time than this awesome little Shimano Stradic 2500HG-FL or C3000HG-FL which is (currently) as much spinning reel I can imagine seeing for the money. But then I bet you I’ll be saying the same thing another ten years down the line when the Vanford and the Stradic FL series of reels are but distant memories. I don’t know any of the latest Daiwa spinning reels, but Shimano to me are making some incredible spinning reels that are something else to fish with. More to come…………….

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