Blog Archive

Pimp My Reel 

By Russell Hood-Penn

Pimped, tricked out, worked and blinged. Not really words that you would generally associate with fishing reels but in this last instalment of Pimp My Reel I’m going to show you just how tricked out a reel can be and still function well and catch quality fish. A lot of people may ask, “Why would possess you to take a perfectly good fishing reel and do that to it?” Well my answer is, why the hell not? Any one who knows me would tell you that If I owned a lawn mower I’d put mags on it no problem at all. The greatest motivation I need to start tinkering in the garage is a cold and rainy day. That’s probably where it all started. Standing in my garage staring at my piles of fishing gear and listening to the sounds of the cogs in my head slowly turning. The donor reel was once again a Spheros, a sad looking 12000fa that had been on a heap of fishing trips and caught a tonne of fish. This Spheros was the first decent reel I purchased and is well and truly worthy of a full makeover. I’m not going to bore you with the details, just check out the build pics and enjoy.

Modifications list;
  • Full set of new drive gears
  • Carbontex Drag Washers
  • ARB bearing upgrade
  • Saragossa handle upgrade
  • Billet Jigging Knob
  • Machined and Polished spool
  • Custom Drag Knob
  • Custom paint
All reel schematics are available from Shimano.com but if you’re unsure about your abilities to pull a reel down into individual components and re assemble it again, my advice would be to not attempt a build this extensive first off. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at rhoodpenn@gmail.com







AND YES IT STLL CATCHES GOOD FISH!!! CHECK OUT BELOW!!!!!








Cheers Russ...