Marco Cortesi Centrepin Reel

[FishingMagic]

The manufacturer/dealer says -

One of the best tests of the smoothness of a centrepin is to spin the reel and time how long it goes for.

A £200-plus centrepin tested recently by Angling Times went for just over a minute and a half while this new ’pin from Avanti was still going strong well beyond two minutes! It might not have the name of some top UK specimen angler on it, but this 4ins ’pin will not disappoint anglers looking for a great reel for trotting river floats, barbel fishing, or even stalking carp and tench on traditional tactics on stillwaters.

Price £30.00 + plus some delivery charges of £6

 

[stuartpengs]

Excellent little reel for the money and one which will hopefully burst the pin price bubble and allow everyone the chance of owning a decent pin without incurring exorbitant cost

 

[noel]

Hi have a look on the sister web site fly fishing forums and read the excellent remarks about this reel on there, got one for Xmas as my first centre pin hope to try it out soon .cheap 'pin - Fly Fishing Forums Noel

 

[Jeff Woodhouse]

If you guys want to leave a "Rating" for this reel, you have to select the points out of ten (go to "advanced" edit if you don't see it first time) and you must check the box underneath otherwise they won't register.

 

[George387]

Bought one of these reels before they went big and I have to say Im impressed with it, It just goes to prove you dont have to spend £100s on a good centrepin reel, well done.

 

[geggsnick]

i have a laser etching machine at my disposal, i might have a go at being a "tackle tart" and put my name on it..

 

[S-Kippy]

Just having a go at this ratings thing. Fantastic value but just a tad blingy for me.

 

[berrie]

Marco Cortesi centrepin

I bought one 2 weeks ago , after a little tweaking got it spinning for over 3 minutes.
I have to agree it's a great deal , but don't expect it to work straight out of the box.
The bearing seats were loose , and I added some wax paper to compensate for the play on the outer bearing seat.
The gear for the locking mechanism is very heavy and holds the inner bearing but since I am a tool and die maker and have access to equipment , I will elevate that problem and lighten it up.
When removing this gear and re-assembling it make sure to tighten the screws in sequence or the bearing ends up on an angle and hinders performance as it doesn't contact your spool properly and leaves an uneven gap.
I just like to tinker and improve rather than spending over $200,- on a different brand with the same or lesser performance.
The handles are located in the wrong spot (my opinion) , when I try to "palm" the spool they keep hitting my hand , I drilled some new holes on the spokes and moved them closer to centre.
This wouldn't be a problem for dace but here I catch rainbow trout up to 14 lbs and that spool sure moves .
I love what you can do with a reasonably priced centrepin and not feel guilty about modifying .
Maybe not all reels have these issues but if yours does , I hope my info helps your quest in catching the big 1 .

 

[Robert Draper]

Not owned a pin before (apart from fly reels that is) so I wandered back to FM after a long time away in search of opinions on this reel. It seems too good to be true but I have ordered one, intending to fish stick and pin on the Trent in June and use it for bigger perch on the margins of my local pond. Thanks for the reviews, it looks like I'm going to have some fun.

 

[mark brailsford 2]

leave alone,
they are, lets say lacking!
as the saying goes you get what you pay for.

mark

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

leave alone,
they are, lets say lacking!
as the saying goes you get what you pay for.

mark

well i dont know where you get that from mark. This reel is being sold at several different prices, upto £99.

So if you pay £99 for one, are you saying thats ok, but a £30 reel isn't ?? just asking, as how do you know if your buying a £30 reel or a £99 reel, other than the price.??

I haven't heard anyone who has bought one of these reels say they are rubbish, and a few who had problems got them changed with no hassle, you dont get that service with shimano and reels costing £600.

 

[the indifferent crucian]

The other 'versions' of the reel are indeed sold at different prices, but they are either a different colour, or a different size. I think the last of the TFG ones were more like £140.

 

[tigger]

I know quite few few people who've been dissapointed when they've received one of these reels through the post and have returned it. I've also heard of plenty people who are very happy when their reel has arrived.... It seems to be a gamble when ordering one as to whether you get a decent one or a dud.

 

[soffit]

Well mine only spins for just over a minute but works beautifully trotting a float. Similarly my Mach 1 Specialist feels good playing a 'Tiny' 6oz roach in the river. Its all wrong so how come I am enjoying myself so much?

If you think I am just a tight-wad I just bought two dinky Rapala plugs for £13. The wife nearly fainted....

 

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Well, I've not given this product "10's" across the board because I've not owned a pin before. However, it has to be said that until this little beauty came along, I probably would NEVER had bought a pin as I just couldn't justify spending £150+ (3 times more than I'd spent on the reels that I do most of my fishing with) on a reel that I would only use some of the time.

So, how does it perform? Well, it's been said on here somewhere (Jeff Woodhouse maybe) that it's all well and good a pin spinning freely for two minutes when you whack it - but that's not really a true reflection on what will happen when it's put to use in a flow, and that it's a better test to see how much weight (when connected to line hanging from a rod tip) is required to set it running. In this respect, the reel operates just wonderfully. I used it on the thames this summer to "trot" (more like still water fishing with a bit of tow) but then also took it on a trip to the teme, where I did the real thing and took chublets, trout, minnows and best of all a few clonker grayling. I couldn't stop smiling as soon as I connected with anything - great fun!

I've also taken it fishing for carp in the margins on a lake - hilarious!! Particularly when you're getting all the bites and your mate is getting none, and every one of your fish goes tearing off against the ratchet!! (I understand there may be some etiquette required here in turning this off once the fish is hooked...)

All in all a top notch product in my book. For me, it just shows there's a bit of "emperor's new clothes" syndrome about some of those other pins on the market... in as much as the purist market they want to attract will not spend £30 on a product as it won't tick the boxes the way something that's £150 will.

(Please note, i did say "some"... I'm sure the extra attention to detail in something like a kingpin is well worth it. I just wonder how many mass produced pins retail prices are really relative to the production costs - or just the market sector they want to appeal to?)

 

[caferacer]

I just love the whole concept of a pin like the Cortesi.I recently got one and its a smooth as my Aerial.Its a real 2 fingers to the elitist brigade.Its just like a £200 fly rod and the £700 fly rod,both identical in performance.Just graphics and "kudos"...

 

[dankay123]

i had one and sent it back. i thought the rachet spring was a bas design as the pin kept jumping off and falling out. other than this fault it was a nice reel and i had no trouble trotting with it

 

[thehoodfishing]

£30 well spent I say. Trotting is a dream, stret pegging a doddle, and even good for stalking carp. A Purist man at heart, and now i've changed to this one, superb product. Have been using it for almost a year now, not a problem at all.

 

[mol]

I bought a pair around 18 months back. There where slight differences between the reels straight out the box with one being smoother and spinning slightly longer, but nothing serious. There is the tiniest hint of spool wobble but only when you spin the reel as quick as possible, in a fishing situation you simply don't notice any. The big give away that they're cheap is the gap between the back plate and the spool, compared to some of the more expensive pins it's a bit big, however the good news is it appears to be cosmetic only.

They both perform well enough, in fact for the price fantastically well! They have a low enough start up to trot with light floats in a fairly slow current. The solid drum is a bonus as I just wind on a 100m spool of bayer perlon and it doesn't bed in at all. The only small problem I had was on one reel was the ratchet spring was a little loose and the pawl dropped out once or twice, a quick tighten off the spring and problem solved.

I've used mine for catching chub and barbel in the main and after 18 months of hard use, particularly the float reel, they're still going strong. I would, without question, recommend this reel if you wanted a first pin or one on a budget, they might not be as quite so good as some of the more expensive reel but then they're £30 and for that reason top marks from me.

 

[CHARLIE]

I bought one of these from dragon carp and it is brilliant for the money.