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Centrepins: A Bit More Variety Needed?

The best quality centre pin reel I have ever used / owned was made by a chap called Kenny Kendall ,crafted to amazingly fine tolerances , spins forever and very durable , I would never sell it .I think I paid £50 for ut second hand not that many years a go
 
This is a 1914/15 12 spoke caliper check Allcocks aerial, so well over a hundred years old and still catching fish. The last time I used it I had 27 barbel, most whilst trotting, the rest when they stopped taking a moving bait and I removed the float and added a light arsley bomb and fished a static bait. It shows how well made those old reels were. The reel takes such a little amount of inhertia to make it rotate and if I give it a stong push on a handle it keeps spinning for up to 5 min's when laying on it's back!

 
I love fishing pins and do so at every opportunity and have around a dozen which get used for specific species from dace to carp. They vary in size from a 4” Trudex to a 6” Robo something, or other. Most get used at some point during the year including an Okuma Bowler which sits fixed on my dace setup to a Marco that’s on my old barbel rod. I don’t own any hand made jobbies but must admit to having had several stiffies whilst looking at some very sexy pins.
if I had to choose just one form those that I own it would be an Okuma Aventa Pro but with the lever check from a Bob James and a Marco spring😂
 
Quite a number of centrepins have passed through my hands since the late 1950's. That was when I was introduced to fishing and eventually handed my first centrepin (Allcocks Match Special - yet another badged option). Back in the last century I got quite precious about pins and collected far too many but eventually saw the light and got rid of most. With the exception of the Match Special which I don't have, I use all those I kept.

I do have favourites, particularly a few I inherited from my late uncle, the Shakespeare Centennial Petal Ariel (another JWY reel) and the MKIV Deluxe Speedias (just two owners from new, my uncle and me!). Then there are the Dave Swallow reels just because of the personal local connection from way back when.

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I have no urge whatsoever to buy any more centrepins - except maybe if a properly priced Allcocks Match Special surfaces!

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Paul Rogers said:
So, my question is, do those of you who like to the top end, is it because you believe they function much better than the cheap workhorses. Or, is it because you believe that it is all do with the quality of build?
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Neither, Paul. The more expensive the reel, the more fish one will catch. It's obvious, innit! :rolleyes:
 
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