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Centrepins - Is it all spin?

Written by David Smith

Friday, 04 January 2008

My two year old grandson, has a fascination with centrepins and nearly every time he comes to visit he says 'fishing granddad' and that means getting a few pins out for him to play with. He will get one out of its case, hold it in one hand, then give the handles a gentle tap, watching the reel spin until it comes to a natural stop. He will then repeat the process with other reels until he decides that there is more to life than watching the drum of a centrepin spinning. He has been doing this for about a year now and he is always very gentle with the reels, carefully putting each one back in its case.

A few weeks ago, I arrived on the river and put the rod together. I then opened the reel case and it was then that I noticed a problem. This reel was not the reel that should have been in the case. It was, in fact, a reel that I had been using for crucians, complete with 2lb line. Logan had mixed the reels and bags up :-(I was travelling light that day and did not have any other main line with me. A quick phone call to Roy revealed that he would be on the river in about an hour and he would bring a spare Trudex with 8lb Maxima line on it.

I was trying out a new rod that day and when Roy arrived and handed over the reel it wouldn't fit on the modern Fuji reel seat !!! I then transferred the line from Roy's reel to mine and promised him that I would put it back on the Trudex at the end of the session. It all ended up ok though as I managed to winkle a 10.10 from a swollen Great Ouse on a big chunk of garlic spam. My own fascination started late summer of 1974 when a friend and I were fishing Throop on the Stour and, during the course of the day, he pulled out a float rod and proceeded to attach his 'new toy'. This turned out to be a centrepin reel and for the next couple of hours he had a lot of fun (and a few tangles) whilst using it. When he decided to have a sit down and leger for barbel I picked up his rod and had a couple of pleasant hours myself. My girlfriend was with us and she said that if I wanted a centrepin reel, she would buy me one for Christmas. She did indeed buy me an Avon Royal Supreme from Davis Tackle and it started a passion for this type of reel which even now, some 33 years later, is showing no signs of abating. 

That reel accounted for many barbel up to a pb 14lbs over the years and just like the girlfriend who became my wife, still gets an outing or two each year :-) I decided that I needed a wider drum reel for barbel fishing and invested in a second hand Allcock Viking. This I used for a couple of seasons with no complaints whatsoever. My best two barbel on this reel weighed 13.5 and 12.12.I then bought a couple of Speedia wide drum deluxes and used them for several years, again without complaint. It would be hard to beat this reel as an all round barbel reel. I then started doing a lot more winter trotting for roach and grayling so I needed a trotting reel which was a bit lighter than the Speedia's. I had a look in Angling Times Bargain Box and noticed that there was a Richard Carter Aerial Gem for sale, mint and unused. I phoned the seller and arranged to go and have a look at it, taking the cash with me just in case I decided to buy it. Well, buy it I did, and I christened it with a nice barbel. It didn't prove to be a great trotting reel though and I was soon looking for a replacement. The guy who sold me the Aerial Gem became a good friend and he showed me his collection which included a number of reels made by Paul Witcher. I had never seen any of his reels before and was completely bowled over by the quality of design and workmanship. One in particular that caught my eye was the Bisterne Aerial. After some pestering the owner agreed to sell me one and I have since caught loads of barbel, roach and grayling on it. Chris Yates had a hand in its design and he reckoned it is finest Wallis casting reel ever made. I am not a great Wallis caster but it certainly enabled me to cast better than I did before. 

Paul Witcher stopped making reels in about 1998 and his last model was the Allcock Aerial 1920 replica. This reel, although 4in diameter like the Bisterne, is slightly heavier and in my opinion an out and out barbel reel. I managed to obtain one a couple of years ago and I now use it for most of my barbel fishing. I had a Barbel Catcher reel until recently and although it wasn't my favourite size at 4.5ins, I still enjoyed using it. It is a fabulous barbel reel and easily the best new barbel reel currently available. I sold mine to raise some cash for the purchase of a Paul Witcher Avon Elite trotting reel. I think that a lot of people get a lot of pleasure out of using a centrepin reel, whether it's for trotting or legering/trundling for barbel. I certainly do and rarely use a fixed spool for my barbel fishing. 

In the past ten years I have only used a fixed spool once, on the Bristol Avon where a particularly long and difficult cast was necessary. Having said that, I have recently bought a pair of 5000 GTE's for use in flood conditions (when are our rivers not in flood?). Over the years I have probably owned close on one hundred centrepin reels so what reels would I recommend to the aspiring centrepin user? I would split my choices into barbel and trotting reels with 3 different price categories.

So here goes:

Barbel less than 75 Pounds Sterling

Speedia Wide Drum Deluxe in good condition.

Speedia Narrow Drum in good condition

Allcock Viking/Youngs Seldex (same reel) in good/very good condition

Youngs Trudex in good/very good condition

Barbel up to 300 Pounds Sterling

Garry Mills Barbel Catcher

Speedia Wide Drum Deluxe in mint condition

JW Young Bob James or Purist II

Allcock Aerial Popular

Barbel over 300 Pounds Sterling

Paul Witcher 1920

Paul Witcher Bisterne Aerial

Chris Lythe Barbel

MasterAllcock Aerial (12 spoke) in good condition

Trotting less than 75 Pounds Sterling

Speedia narrow drum in good condition

Trudex in good condition

Rapidex in good condition

Okuma Aventa VT1002 (if you shop around)

Trotting up to 300 Pounds Sterling

Okuma Aventa Sheffield

Speedia narrow drum in mint condition

Greys Bewick

JW Young Heritage/Purist II

Trotting over 300 Pounds Sterling

Paul Witcher Bisterne Aerial

Chris Lythe Scotton Trotter

Richard Carter Aerial Perfection

Garry Mills 'The Mill'

There are many other suitable reels out there but I have limited each section to those that I have personal experience of.

David Smith