Center Pin Fishing

[PaleMorningDunce]

Is there any reason that center pin fishing seems to strictly practiced on salmon/steelhead streams (at least in North America, it seems). I imagine that the productivity gains of the longer drift would be just as much benefit on inland streams.

 

Does anyone here center pin on the bow?

 

Tight lines,

Ben

[OneMoreLastCast]

I have a good friend that has done it on the Bow for years now. He is an accomplished Fly fisherman as well, but center pins 90% of the time because he catches more fish than with his fly rod.

 

It is a solitary way to fish though....It sucks to fish with him because he takes up pretty much the entire section of river for about 100 Meters from bank to bank.

 

I've seen a few others doing it as well, so I imagine that because it catches fish and the fact we have people from all over the world migrating to Calgary for work, we are likely going to see a number of different methods show up in the future.

[SilverDoctor]

I have a good friend that has done it on the Bow for years now. He is an accomplished Fly fisherman as well, but center pins 90% of the time because he catches more fish than with his fly rod.

 

It is a solitary way to fish though....It sucks to fish with him because he takes up pretty much the entire section of river for about 100 Meters from bank to bank.

 

I've seen a few others doing it as well, so I imagine that because it catches fish and the fact we have people from all over the world migrating to Calgary for work, we are likely going to see a number of different methods show up in the future.

 

It's a good method, it does require some special equipment to be done properly. It truely is "float fishing".Centerpin Reels and float systems would work well on the bow. The float rods are extra long for easier line mending and added hook setting power. Just depends how you want to fish, and what equipment you want to focus on. It's one of a great many methods and gear selections.

[jonny5]

I drift fished a lot when I lived on the coast. not on a cp but using bait casters. Its pretty similar except a cp is a smoother drifting reel with slower retrieves. Drift fishing works really well at getting deep fast, and as far as I know anyways will always outfish a fly rod in certain waters. (ie fast, deep water)

 

Seen it on the bow, and they guy I saw did pretty well using a small pink dink.

 

I would try it if the bow wasn't so good for flyfishing PS on the west coast, center pins are becoming really popular (trendy even) but the only real advantage I can see is that they are very simple and thus won't break if you treat them well. And of course the really old people use them cause they never needed to buy new reels over the years... so they must be well built.

 

And as silverdoctor mentioned, line mending is important for a good drift... just like nymphing. Bad drift = no steelhead.

[maxwell]

did it lots when i was a kid.. it is fun but not as "artistic" as flyfishing....... but if u wana lob some big bombs and slam some fish its the way too go i suppose

[Brownstone]

I bought a centerpin reel over the winter, set it up but only tried it a few times, I found it hard to get into something other than fly fishing..I even set it up with 15 meters of floating line so I could nymph the short stuff and fish a long drift when I made it to the head of the run.. you can get a super long drift for sure but like MTB said it's a solitary way to fish becasue you hog the whole run. you pretty much have to learn a totally different style of fishing to be productive with it..think about using a fly reeel with no drag and casting it like a spinning outfit .. tangles galore trying to learn to cast with straight mono thats why I rigged it up with a length of floating line. its different but my brief trials cured my centerpin itch for now.

[jonny5]

I bought a centerpin reel over the winter, set it up but only tried it a few times, I found it hard to get into something other than fly fishing..I even set it up with 15 meters of floating line so I could nymph the short stuff and fish a long drift when I made it to the head of the run.. you can get a super long drift for sure but like MTB said it's a solitary way to fish becasue you hog the whole run. you pretty much have to learn a totally different style of fishing to be productive with it..think about using a fly reeel with no drag and casting it like a spinning outfit .. tangles galore trying to learn to cast with straight mono thats why I rigged it up with a length of floating line. its different but my brief trials cured my centerpin itch for now.

 

Thats an interesting setup... how did it work to cast fly line? I have heard that people can cast light jigs pretty nicely with a light line, but never heard of anyone trying a floating line... maybe if you shortened it a bit it might be easier to get the line out of the rod so theres no backlash?

 

Maybe I will set one up to to play around with if the weather gets too cold for fly fishing.

[maxwell]

center pin reels are on free spool similar too a baitcaster.... with or without flyline the trick is too keep a little tension so you dotn get the backlash and stop the spool from spinning just before it hits the water...

[Brownstone]

used a roll cast ( as i do nymphing anyway) didn;t try casting right off the spool with the floating line .. once I hit the top of a run i'd just feed out the entire lenght of fly line and the surface tension between floating line and water strips the line off the reel like a regular centerpin set up..