The Outdoor Line Forum

Hey you all,i have been reading and hearing lots of 'chatter' on centerpin reel fishing. Albeit i'm not the sharpest bowling ball on the rack,however the thought of fishing light lines.long fishng poles etc seems unusual, Granted spey rods and the like have been around a long time. What is' Centerpin' refering to?Can this be applied to ,say ,downrigger fishing? I realize that the current applications are for steelheading,salmon-river fishing. Since i have a handicap,i cannot stand and cast any longer on my favorite rivers and streams,it would be cool to apply some of these techs to trolling for salmonoids,does anyone out there have any input? Remember i'm sharp as a bowling ball(sic) when it comes to some of theses new trends....thanks for your time.....net.

Center pin reels or "knuckle busters" have been used for quite some time in Canada and many in the San Juans are/have been using them (including myself) for downrigger fishing. There are a number of brands, which vary greatly in price. We fish Islanders which are expensive but we started with Diawa's which you can pick up for $70 or so. We have them on 10 1/2' rods and they are SUPER fun!

Thanks billy,appreciate your input!..net

No problem! I did some checking around and LFS has the Daiwa M-ONE Plus mooching reel advertised for $50 right now. For the money, they're great reels. In the end, if you paired this with a Shimano Convergence - 10 1/2 medium light rod, you'd have a great all around combo that would cost about $130. Not bad......just a thought........best of luck!

They are a lot of fun to fish with, and they handle great on the riggers. I have been using one for about 25yrs, but just this year I put it away, and I am not sure I will go back...they do not work well with rookies, so make sure to never hand one of these rods off to a guy who has never fly fished before.

"Center Pin" reels for fishing in rivers and "knucklebusters" for mooching or trolling rods are not at all the same thing...CP's have no drag, no anti-reverse...it's all in your palm.

Mooching reels are single action reels with drags on them.

Fish on...

Todd