Centerpinning

Walter & Group...

THIS MAY BE THE LAST MESSAGE FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS.  (MY COMPUTER GOES IN FOR REPAIR TODAY .......Gordy )

From Rick Whorwood:

Hi Gordy

Ally was bang on with his information on the reels, I owned a Allcock, it was very popular here in the beginning as was the J.W.Young Reels, before the local machine shops started making center pins. The Hardy Super Silex was not that popular here in Ontario. They were however popular in B.C. the water there is much faster, needing more weight to get down, they suited the conditions better.

Ally: were the Allcocks made in Christchurch, I seem to remember it had a label with that on it ?

 

Rick

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Ally Gowans:

Hi Gordy,

 

In answer to Rick's question about Allcock.

 

The firm of S. Allcock & Co. based in Redditch, England was founded by Polycarp Allcock around 1800 and in its beginning primarily produced hooks. Polycarp's son Samuel joined the firm at a young age and was trained as a float maker. In 1860 under Samuel's direction of the company, Allcock's added rods to the burgeoning tackle business and moved to a larger location in Redditch with the purchase of another hook making company. In 1873 the company started to make their own reels after hiring Mr. Hughes, a Birmingham brass worker along with two youths. In 1874 J.W. Young joined the firm and immediately showed great promise in the area of reel making. Mr. Young produced many fine reels and added several innovations before leaving the firm to start his own business. Allcocks continued to make tackle until the 1970's. Their last reel was a re-release of the Match Aerial.

 

 

Best wishes,

Ally Gowans

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bill Hoot comes in with more information on Centerpinning :

Center-pin reels were  well-described mechanically in the e-mails by 
Rick and Ally.  On this side of the Atlantic, they are popularly used 
fishing  rivers for steelhead in British Columbia  and around the 
Great Lakes region.  A long rod resembling  a spey flyrod is used, 
helpful to mend the line over varying currents for a long float. For 
the floating line, many prefer a floating superline such as Berkley 
Fireline or P-Line Hydrofloat line instead of mono, which tends to 
sink slowly and is difficult to "mend" over the currents.  Foam 
elongated "dink" floats or balsa floats are  used to suspend a light 
marabou jig or natural bait slightly above bottom, to minimize 
snagging.  So I would describe it is a variant or hybrid conventional 
tackle technique, insofar that you are casting the weight of the 
float, split-shot, and bait or jig,  as contrasted with fly-casting, 
in which we are casting primarily the weight of the line.   It is 
similar to fly-fishing a nymph rig with floating strike indicator in 
how the rig is actually fished after the cast, dead-drifting along 
the currents. Center-pin reels are an alternative to spinning reels 
for this application.   Author Dave Vedder describes the technique in 
Steelhead Jig Fishing, and Float Fishing for Steelhead [ Techniques 
and Tackle], both published by Frank Amato.  To Gary---I enjoyed your 
teaching me spey-casting technique over Christmas.              

 Bill 
Hoot 
  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~