CLOSED FACE VS CENTRE PIN

[Eddie]

Go on then, lets have it out, which is best for stick float fishing, I know my views on the subject, but lets hear yours? And the line from the top of the centre pin, what's that all about! Is there some advantage I'm unaware off! Be good to hear some views on the subject.

Eddie.

[stevo53]

[rushy]

For small fish and ease of fishing it has got to be the ABU 501 for me but for pleasure gained there is just something magical about the centrepin. It is obviously smoother control as well when trotting through and holding back not the 3 inch jerk you get when you lift your finger off the spool of the Abu. Both great ways to fish though and I just cannot imagine trotting a float through with a traditional fixed spool . . . Oh the memories of the old Mitchell Match with its bail arm that only engaged after the eighth turn of the handle , clickety clickety clickety click and another Dace gone

[patterdalewilson]

Great thread Eddie,don't know where to start tbh, but here goes I can only mirror what Stevo said about the closed face reels,fantastic in windy conditions or when regular longer casts are required and small to medium fish are the quarry.
As to which is best I would vote the pin but they both perform different tasks,but if decent fish are on the cards its the centrepin all day for me.

Line off the top on the centrepin or off the bottom ? this one has to boil down to how you were taught to fish with the pin and possibly when. As a child (a few summers ago)the first and only reel I possessed was a pin and never having used a fixed spool reel rotating the reel in a clockwise fashion made perfect sense and still does. In fact I don't remember back in the day anyone fishing with the line off the bottom . But lets see how our forum lads fish 'em we must have lots on here who used them in days gone by and many who still do as well as the newbies to centrepins.

My advice to someone new to these reels would be put it on the rod and go through the motions of fishing before spooling it one way or the other and deciding which seems natural.

Regards Mick.

[Eddie]

I didn't start my fishing life with centre pins, so don't have the nostalgic attachment many anglers seem to have. From being a junior angler I was match fishing and wanted the latest and most efficient tackle possible, you have to if you want to compete.
If anything I'm more attached to my 506's, much more versatile, as said you can fish at more distance, I'd say they are much quicker and the most important thing you can fish a bait at the pace of the river, where as the pin always slows the bait down a little.
I know the flow of line from a closed face reel isn't always smooth, but I usually sweep the rod back then put my finger on the reel and control the pace of the float with bringing the rod slowly back round. At the pace of the river, holding back to varying degrees or stopping the bait all easily done.
But it's the reel I grew up with! Only in recent years tried the pin and then with barbel in mind, I've had loads of good chub on the 506 though.

Eddie.

[gcb]

My first fixed spool reel was an Intrepid Envoy - anyone remember them ? - before that a very cranky centrepin. I have used a variety of reels since then. The problem with centrepin reels, without a guard, when the line comes from the bottom is that even in light winds it can catch the line a and pull it off the spool. This hardly happens if the line comes off the top if like me your reel does not have a guard. For float fishing on rivers I find a fixed spool reel far easier to handle. I would use my centrepin for trotting close to the bank or laying on for bigger fish.

[patterdalewilson]

Eddie if fished correctly the pin does not slow the progress of the float down the swim. You can either pull the line from the reel or my preferred method flick the rim of the spool slightly,no need to flick the rod tip.

[Eddie]

Oct 6, 2015 20:47:26 GMT patterdalewilson said:

Eddie if fished correctly the pin does not slow the progress of the float down the swim. You can either pull the line from the reel or my preferred method flick the rim of the spool slightly,no need to flick the rod tip.

I'm no pin fishing expert! Just when I fish it I'm thinking about what I'm doing with the reel.
I am so used to my closed face reels I don't even know I've got the rod and reel in my hand, just an extension of my arm and able to concentrate on what I'm doing with the float, bit like fly fishing.
I'm sure your spot on, but you probably fish it better than me!

Eddie.

[stevo53]

Oct 6, 2015 18:31:50 GMT rushy said:

For small fish and ease of fishing it has got to be the ABU 501 for me but for pleasure gained there is just something magical about the centrepin. It is obviously smoother control as well when trotting through and holding back not the 3 inch jerk you get when you lift your finger off the spool of the Abu. Both great ways to fish though and I just cannot imagine trotting a float through with a traditional fixed spool . . . Oh the memories of the old Mitchell Match with its bail arm that only engaged after the eighth turn of the handle , clickety clickety clickety click and another Dace gone

Dave I fish the closed face differently Ok I do use the method you describe depending on flow wind etc but i also feed the line just like the old  guys who taught me to fish many years ago, not all there pin reels were in the least bit free running and on rivers with slow to medium flow even a huge porky quill wouldnt pull line of the reel LOL.

[ronnie]

I started with a bakelite centre pin with the line off the bottom and three or four fingers worth of line pulled out from the rings for a longer cast. I never got the hang of spinning the reel just as I casted to release more line. Then I graduated to an Intrepid monarch (Geoff will remember)by way of a reel that turned sideways for casting.