Why are centrepins so loved or hated

[Renrag39]

I've always been drawn by 'pins but have not bought one as of yet as I do very little float fishing, no fly fishing and I don't want to spoil the notion by buying an inferior 'pin.

I can't justify getting one in any way unfortunately...

 

Please give me an excuse!!!

 

Renrag

[Bartman]

Love my pins because.........I've yet to find a drag system as efficient and accurate as my stubby thumb. Until, that is, a biggun goes off in a ballistic fashion whereupon I just close my eyes, engage the ratchet and rock to and fro in my chair ! However, due to my angling prowess this is a rare event indeed.

Edited June 20, 2011 by Bartman

[RUDD]

I neither love or hate mine as I see it as another tool to catch fish BUT there is something magical about trotting a float down a river using a pin.

[barbelbarmy]

I first tried the pin after my grandad died. I decided to restore his and put them on display. Whilst doing this I remembered watching and laughing at his attempts at using them. I decided to give one ago and brought a Rapidex off fleebay.

 

Since then i've swore at them, cursed them and got close to throwing them in the river. However, perserverance,correct oil, good line and loads of practice later and I rarely use anything else. A baitrunner for distance ledger and a shimano for long range waggler. In fact it had been so long since using a fixed spool I couldn't use it to start with and when I hooked something the first thing I noticed is that I couldn't feel it.

 

My other reels still travel with me but are only there as a last resort. I grow up with fixed spools and consider centrepins as an important development in my fishing experience.

[Alan Stubbs]

I love the immediacy of fishing with a pin. There's no other sensation like it.

 

That said, there's some better than others. My favourite is the Aventa Pro, followed by a Free Spirit Searcher. I hate the Leeds Lewtham as it simple feels heavy, requires inordinate levels of energy to overcome inertia. (In fact I using for fishing 'hit-and-hold' in the margins.)

[chavender]

i'l love too say ,i love centrepins for their beauty ,grace and the precision of the engineering .but nah non of that piffle ,they do what i need them too without complication ,they may not be the perfect choice technically but best for me & how i fish (slow & easy) ,and just one cog in the mechanism of my way of fishing which goes too making things work for me ,which in turn increases my pleasure of the experiance & adventure that is angling.

[Anderoo]

I genuinely don't understand the urge felt by many to collect loads of pins and display them as little works of art, and I also can't believe how much money some spend on them, or how long they wait patiently for one to be built for them. To me they are just a reel, no different in essence to a fixed spool reel (except a great deal simpler!).

 

I also don't think they're any good for the vast majority of fishing situations. I don't get that special feeling many do about 'immediacy' or 'direct contact'. In fact, I find reeling in with a pin (even batting the spool) a long and boring excercise! I enjoy my fishing so much more in most situations with a decent fixed spool reel.

 

However, for trotting a top and bottom float down a little river, fishing with a decent, free-flowing pin is up there with the very best of angling experiences. Watching the float wander downstream as line is pulled effortlessly off the pin, with just a touch of thumb pressure keeping the speed just right, slowing the float down occasionally, is a wonderful experience. I do quite a bit of different types of fishing, but every time I trot a little river with a pin, I wonder why I don't just do that all the time. Fishing like that with a fixed spool reel would just not be as effective or fun.

[Steve Walker]

I use mine mostly for trotting, but I do enjoy margin fishing for tench with them.