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Thread: Centerpin rod/reel for fly fishing?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2017
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    Chilliwack
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    Centerpin rod/reel for fly fishing?

    Curious if any fly fisher people can see any issues with an idea I have cooking up. An old shoulder injury has more or less put an end to my single hand casting days with the fly rod. Gave up my 8wt river rod years ago. Too much line weight and rod/reel weight. Shoulder would flare up after a couple hours. Converted to two handed rods for river fly fishing, no issues with shoulder. Trout weight fly rods I can still single hand cast, but occasionally I get a shoulder flare up. My chiro recommends giving it up. In recent years I have been doing mostly trolling on lakes, either gear or trolling flies on a sinking line. Still lots of fun but I miss casting with an indicator. I have an idea I plan to follow through with, just looking for feedback.

    Plan is to have a 10 foot 5wt fly rod built up as a centerpin rod. Going to pair it with a 3.75 inch pin reel. Probably going to spool it up with a floating mono like Bloodrun or similar in 10 lb or so. From here dacron bobber stop that can be reeled through the guides and casted out without catching on the guides. Small slip float I'm guessing 7-10g or so. Just enough tiny split shot above the swivel to get a good cast out. Small barrel swivel then leader/tippet, then fly.

    I envision casting/fishing it like one would float fishing on a river. If I want to fish 20 feet deep just adjust the bobber stop to that depth and cast it out there. Fly will drop to desired depth. Obviously cant really strip the fly in like with a normal fly line, but I don't see any issues with giving the reel a small turn every so often and slowly bring the indicator back to the boat.

    Issues I have though of are:

    1- mono mainline sinking into the lake and getting a crap hookset as I'd mostly be pulling the sunken line out of the water. I think this could be remedied by using a floating mono mainline like Bloodrun 10lb.
    2- too much splash and scaring the fish away. I think with the smallest float I can get away with and the lightest amount of lead I can get away with this issue should be mitigated.
    3- split shot on mainline spooking fish. I'm hoping that I'll only need 2-3 small split shot. In clear/shallow water this might be an issue, but in deeper and/or murkier water I can't see the fish noticing much or at all.

    Obviously this idea is not as ideal as a standard fly set up, but I think it'll work. I've never hard of anyone doing this. Also I think it would be a hoot hooking a big trout and palming the spool with no drag.

    Curious if anyone has any feedback, ways to improve this idea, etc. Rod is currently being built up by a buddy, and the reel should be done by late summer if I'm lucky. I should also say that I have tried a 2 handed rod for lake fly fishing. Found it too hard get a decent d-loop and load in the rod steering the rod and line around the outboard. Just didn't work for me. Might work better up at the bow but 99% of the time I'm the driver and am at the stern seat.
    Last edited by captain_baculum; 06-07-2021 at 05:58 PM.

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    williams lake
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    5,668

    Re: Centerpin rod/reel for fly fishing?

    First off... get a new chiropractor. Sounds like a negative Nancy. Don't need that in your life.

    Second... I like your idea. How big are fish you're targeting? I wouldn't worry too much about splash. Birds and other fish splash all the time. If you're looking at targeting fish larger than 5 - pounds, then I'd be concerned about swivels, splitshot and whatnot scaring fish... although I'm a believer in fluorocarbon. So there's that.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
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    Surrey, BC
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    13,183

    Re: Centerpin rod/reel for fly fishing?

    just switch to stationery float fishing on lakes and other slack water where you dont have to hold the rod high. get a sliding float so you can go deep
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  5. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
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    kamloops
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    3,851

    Re: Centerpin rod/reel for fly fishing?

    Should work fine.. no different than using a spincast with tiny float and fly.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    1,769

    Re: Centerpin rod/reel for fly fishing?

    This sounds like the old travelling bobber set up I used to use on a spinning rod and reel. It always worked great for me. Just get the depth right. Good luck

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Posts
    162

    Re: Centerpin rod/reel for fly fishing?

    I think it would work just fine. Splash i wouldn't worry about especially if your fishing deeper water. It would also be super fun fighting em on the pin.

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Grand Forks
    Posts
    498

    Re: Centerpin rod/reel for fly fishing?

    Go with a ultra light spinning rod a Pin requires too much weight to cast proper and retrieve sucks . A pin setup is best suited to river fishing and thats about it . If fishing rivers the size of the Kettle a small 4 wt is more than adequate and is less effort than a Pin, long bomber casts are not needed the fish are usually under foot . If you want the to get away from false casting and over hand casting due to a injury and fish creeks and rivers and odd lakes look into a Switch rod in something like a 5wt or 4 wt . No over head casting cause the rod has a butt extension and casts like a Spey and casting with the bush behind you no big deal once you learn the method . I met lots of guys with bad shoulders that don't overhand fly fish and went Spey or Switch . I used to fish Cutties on the Fraser with a 11 ft 4-10 lb pin rod and yes wooly buggers and leeches under a float works great but all that 1-1 reeling played out my wrist . Just Get Out And Catch Some Fish .

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    1,792

    Re: Centerpin rod/reel for fly fishing?

    if you have the blank built with longer framed guides it would work better for spinning reels and still work great with a pin, so you can switch up as required...I learned how to pin fish on the great lakes, and that scene is typically much lighter gear than west coast, so yeah sure you can wallis cast lighter weights but I would agree a spinning reel works better for lake fishing if you want casting distance....of course fighting a big fish on a pin is still fun regardless what type of water

    in terms of slip floating flies for deeper trout, works great, before the days of modern electrics where you watch our jig just like ice fishing, we used to slip float for suspended deep water crappies a lot...I wouldn't worry about the mono sinking affecting the hookset, especially with a longer rod, just periodically reel the slack out of your line

    I would invest in some proper sensitive lake floats (the long skinny ones, don't see a lot of them around here), a lot of times fishing deep you can miss the up takes if you are only looking for a float to drop (crappies have a reputation for that, perhaps less of an issue with trout but something to consider)
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  10. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    271

    Re: Centerpin rod/reel for fly fishing?

    Look into a switch rod, they’re often longer than a single hand fly rod in the same weight and have the lower butt section so they work well with a pin reel. I fish steelhead on a 8wt 11’8” switch rod with my centrepin as it is light and great feel. Would save you some extra dough over having a custom rod built

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