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Centre pin advice please ?

Adam Wylie

Adam Wylie

Senior Member & Supporter
Hi all, can anyone recommend a Centre Pin reel for occasional use please ?
Not looking for anything expensive , but needs to work well when ledgering.
Thanks in Advance 👍
 
Would imagine you would need something with a fairly strong ratchet to stop line being pulled off in a strong flow . 2nd hand there are loads of different pins , perhaps a mordex merlin or a mordex major , maybe speedia wide drum all these come up regularly on E bay . Contact Clive Shipman , he's a member on here and knows his pins
 
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As Mike has said, a good rachet is essential. You will also need it to be free running if you are casting more than 10 metres or so. There are plenty of second hand reels that will do the job from Trudex at the lighter end to Mordex and Speedia at the larger sizes. Also Grice & Young reels come up for sale at reasonable prices. If you are new to centrepins then I would recommend getting one with an adjustable drag like a Trudex or Aerial as that will help avoid over runs when casting.
 
Get yourself a speedia deluxe, not for the 3 way rachet, which personally I think is pointless, but for the drag, which is extremely useful when free lining with larger baits.

Ideally look for one with no play/wobble and make sure the drag works as it should.
 
As others have already stated, a Speedia wide would be ideal. I’ve had several pins over the years, but the speedia is probably still my favourite. The deluxe model has variable tension on the ratchet (as opposed to drag tension). They’re not so cheap now and you’ll probably need to pay over a hundred quid for one but you won’t regret it. Get your self some 3d printed arbors to improve, retrieve rate, and line lay, the later of which will decrease resistance when trotting
 
I only use my wide drum speedia for ledgering, and use narrow drum speedia for trotting. Maybe because I have a small hand, holding a wide drum reel feels really uncomfortable for me.
 
some of them do it’s very easy to trim them to fit. All three of mine fit both my cane and carbon rods perfectly.
 
John Newman said:
Am I right in thinking Speedias have a large reel foot that does not fit all modern rods? Could be relevant to the person starting this thread.
Click to expand...
That is right, but it can be shorten to fit the modern rod.
 

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I’ve got a speedia wide drum deluxe I’ve had to modify the reel foot to fit my rods.
 
Can’t go wrong with a Rapidex - have used them for 40 years in my barbel fishing (I ledger only), quality pin that has easily coped with barbel in excess of 16lb. Highly recommend this pin.
 
Never used on the river yet as use another but again a vote for the speedia wide deluxe cracking reel for the money. Great character reels to
 
Nice heritage on ebay good price. Its the pin i use but never used it for ledgering? Seems to have good drag and ratchet systems to me. That said you mentioned a budget. I'd say that's a fair price though.
www.ebay.co.uk

JW YOUNG CENTERPIN REEL | eBay

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