Using a center pin for bomb and feeder fishing

[john step]

I bought one of those Dragon pins a few years ago for £30 ish. I see they are still about under different banners with names like "Wensum" or similar. The rave was the smoothness and time it went on spinning for. It certainly did!

PAH!! I found it too heavy for float fishing a match style rod. However I adapted the smooth running ability by stiffening it up with a polythene washer under the spool nut to stop it unravelling when I use it, no, love to use it with ratchet on with 15lb bs Sensor (horror)
a barbel rod down the edge on a running bomb for carp.

Oh the lockdown is getting to me as I am fantasising about using the method.mg:

 

[Aknib]

Here you go Mike, it looks awkward but really isn't once you get used to doing it.

The Nottingham cast...

The Nottingham Cast - Centerpin Articles - Quest Outdoors

Remember that each of those loops looks insignificant in size in relation to distance but times it by two as that's the amount of line being pulled off on each one, I'm lucky in that they call me monkey arms at work and I reckon I can easily pull off six feet and more at a time which actually equates to twelve so times three along with a long drop of the rig from tip to butt it equates to around a forty foot plus cast with minimal effort.

I can easily do three loops but rarely have the need to go beyond two and if distance is a factor the longer the rod the better as you have the additional length of the 'hang' of the rig.

When float fishing you'll find a slider float, even when depths don't require one, helps in this way as that 'hang' is much longer between float and tip which all equates to distance if you need it, just remember to give out line once the rig hits the water and falls otherwise it will creep back towards you.

 

[mikench]

Thanks Steve. Well I have just ventured out onto the lawn with rod and reel in hand and a 1oz weight just tied on to the end of the line. I tried holding first 2 loops of line and then 3 and was comfortably getting the distance to a banana parasol encased in its protective sleeve some 20 to 25m distant. I didn't always hit the parasol but I did catch a chiminea, a rhododendron and a clump of bluebells. It was rather fun in pleasant sunshine and a breeeze.



The BJ is an open spoked face reel so not the type referred to in the link but I don't suppose that matters. I do intend to use the pins far more when normality resumes.

 

[Aknib]

The BJ is an open spoked face reel so not the type referred to in the link but I don't suppose that matters. I do intend to use the pins far more when normality resumes.

Yeah the cast will be fine with that reel Mike.

Keep up the good work, you'll be surprised how quickly your cast will develop... You don't have a greenhouse do you?

 

[mikench]

No thankfully !

 

[john step]

Here you go Mike, it looks awkward but really isn't once you get used to doing it.

The Nottingham cast...

The Nottingham Cast - Centerpin Articles - Quest Outdoors

Remember that each of those loops looks insignificant in size in relation to distance but times it by two as that's the amount of line being pulled off on each one, I'm lucky in that they call me monkey arms at work and I reckon I can easily pull off six feet and more at a time which actually equates to twelve so times three along with a long drop of the rig from tip to butt it equates to around a forty foot plus cast with minimal effort.

I can easily do three loops but rarely have the need to go beyond two and if distance is a factor the longer the rod the better as you have the additional length of the 'hang' of the rig.

When float fishing you'll find a slider float, even when depths don't require one, helps in this way as that 'hang' is much longer between float and tip which all equates to distance if you need it, just remember to give out line once the rig hits the water and falls otherwise it will creep back towards you.

Well I'll be blowed. I have been using pins in this fashion for 57 years and I didn't know it had a name. I called it casting.mg:
I know thats how long it was as I had saved the money to buy my first Youngs pin from my paper round. £3.18s.6d. I still use it.

 

[ian g]

Thought the same myself John , though I'd vaguely heard the name . My practicing is going slowly , a greenhouse and a couple of trees make casting a little trying in my garden .

 

[S-Kippy]

It's funny you should say that Skip, I agree in the overall sentiment of a fixed spool being far easier but I don't get the same enjoyment out of it but we're all different and that's what makes it interesting.

The comment about posing points though, I'm often quite self conscious on the rare occasions that I arrive on the bank of a venue amongst people waving infinite metres of expensive carbon around and feel very definitely belittled when I take out the rod and 'pin, not that it really bothers me enough to give a toss but I've never really seen it as 'posing points'.

Do people really judge it as that?

Dunno, Steve......but I know when I'm doing something for the sake of it which is why you'll never find me using a pin to fish a feeder/lead at anything other than "under the rod tip" range. [ and I can't remember the last time I did that if I ever have} I love using pins to float fish [trotting or in stillwater] and often do when conditions are such that I really shouldn't but there it is. I wouldn't NOT use one because of what other people might think....I just dont think trying to fish a method feeder using a pin is a very sensible way of going about things. A f/s is just so much easier and I defy anyone to say its not.

I'm a competent pin user but I doubt I could cast a feeder with one even if I wanted to which I dont. Its pointless imo

You want posing points go look at most carp lakes.

 

[Aknib]

Dunno, Steve......but I know when I'm doing something for the sake of it which is why you'll never find me using a pin to fish a feeder/lead at anything other than "under the rod tip" range. [ and I can't remember the last time I did that if I ever have} I love using pins to float fish [trotting or in stillwater] and often do when conditions are such that I really shouldn't but there it is. I wouldn't NOT use one because of what other people might think....I just dont think trying to fish a method feeder using a pin is a very sensible way of going about things. A f/s is just so much easier and I defy anyone to say its not.

I'm a competent pin user but I doubt I could cast a feeder with one even if I wanted to which I dont. Its pointless imo

You want posing points go look at most carp lakes.

That's fair enough Skip.

I much prefer a 'pin to a fixed spool reel and so by using one I'm getting much more enjoyment from my fishing which in turn gives it a point, a purpose for doing so and every fish I catch is that little bit more special because I've caught it with what I enjoy using.

Some time ago, probably around four years, I took the decision to fish almost exclusively with 'pins and this represented a certain challenge which I decided to work at and I can honestly say that I enjoy my fishing far more both through what I use and the effort and new skills which I had to hone in order to do so.

That said there are still occasions where a 'pin just cannot do what I want it to and the fs is the only way to go but I'm never as happy.

Wherever I feel I can get away with the 'pin i'll use it regardless of float, bomb or feeder but i'll swear to God that I lose far fewer fish than the finest fs drag can cope with.

It's not really that though, it's the overall experience for me but i'll happily accept I'm a complete basket case with such things

 

[john step]

On one of my fisheries I love to walk the bank and place a free running carp bait over the reeds and walk the rod back to my comfy spot with the pin giving line as I walk.
I can sit holding the rod with the pin on ratchet and thumb on rim. Its usually with the heaviest tip on a barbel rod.

Electric bites as the rod slams round. In the warm sunshine I have even been known have an after lunch snooze with no danger whilst holding the rod.

 

[S-Kippy]

I know exactly where you're coming from, Steve. I did the same though without making a conscious "thing" of it because I found I just loved using a pin. Like I said you'll rarely find me using anything else unless I'm carping or chucking a feeder a long way. I know exactly what you mean about the whole experience thing but [for me} a pin is primarily for float fishing, occasionally a lead but never a feeder.

 

[Aknib]

a pin is primarily for float fishing, occasionally a lead but never a feeder.

It's the feeder thing I don't get Skip.

It's just a bomb that is capable of carrying feed, is it because you can hand feed at the distances you're fishing?

I'm reasonably comfortable fishing a feeder and 'pin at fifty feet plus and I know I can be more accurate with the feed than by putting it in by hand although I'm particularly cack handed when hand feeding, not so bad when I get into a rhythm with a catty but I can lob a ball of groubdbait over my own shoulder!

 

[108831]

Imo,a pin isnt good for casting a feeder accurately without a marker,say to a weed line or specific bottom feature,mainly because if the line is coming from a rotating drum it will actually hit bottom inboard of where it landed on the surface,many times that may not matter,but on some occasions that might be the last thing you need,that is why I liked the principle of the rolling pin....that said if you use the Toddy method it is the same end result.

 

[S-Kippy]

It's the feeder thing I don't get Skip.

It's just a bomb that is capable of carrying feed, is it because you can hand feed at the distances you're fishing?

I'm reasonably comfortable fishing a feeder and 'pin at fifty feet plus and I know I can be more accurate with the feed than by putting it in by hand although I'm particularly cack handed when hand feeding, not so bad when I get into a rhythm with a catty but I can lob a ball of groubdbait over my own shoulder!

I can neither explain nor justify it, Steve. All I know is that it just doesnt seem right to me.....I cant say feel because I've never done it. I do, occasionally, fish a lead with a pin if I'm barbelling but 99 times out of 100 if I'm using a pin I'll have a float on and feeding by hand.

Anyway....I d fall foul of the bankside style police if I got caught fishing a non matching pair of pins behind me Delkims