Winter has well settled in Australia and I got sick few times already...
With winter comes Blackfish season, now those fish can be caught all year long but in cold winter when you are not in the mood to brave the cold on a kayak and want to take a break with other species then Blackfish is a great plan. They are fun fish to catch and eat. I used to catch them off the rocks but have now moved to the estuary and fish The Entrance, by the Tuggerah Lake with the company of the locals with whom I go prawning during summer.
This year I wanted to try the Centrepin. I have been intrigued for quite a while now but never really got into it. Until I have accidentally broken my LBD reel used for my ISO rod. I wanted to get something more affordable so got an Alvey 455B XL. It is a good little reel but the inertia is not great. It requires a strong current to spin the reel. So I sold it and got an Alvey 475B instead. That was a great difference. It just great to see the slow current peel the line of the reel and fight a fish on a 1:1 ratio. Somehow fishing with an ISO rod and a centrepin reel does make sense, it is almost like an LBD without a lever, you just use your fingers to lock or unlock the spool when fighting a big fish. I had great fun with the 475B and caught some nice blackies.
After using the 475B for three weeks I found few annoying points:
- although the reel brake button on the backplate can be useful even when fighting the fish, it is also too easy to press on it inadvertently.
- the side cast feature was very helpful as I learned the art of centrepin casting. However line twists are a nightmare. I needed to tie a tiny swivel above the float for it to be effective and it annoys me that sometimes I reel in too much and the swivel get locked inside the tip guide.
- also due to the side cast, the reel foot needs to swivel and this adds extra gap between the foot and the reel itself, making the reel to far away from the rod to be able to use the thumb to control the reel spinning speed. So I need to hold the reel with the middle to pinky fingers in front of the reel and use them to palm it, but that big gap still create some strain in the hand due to the stretch between the fingers.
However, the Alvey 475B (or Shakespeare Lincoln in the US) is greatly free running and does spin for one minute with a good flick. The slowest of current peels the line allowing a drag-free drift. It use using ball bearing as opposed to brass bushing on older reels, giving it a very free running reel, but running maybe too freely and if you don't master palming while casting you will end up with 30m of bird nest, don't ask me why I know...
I heard lots of good reviews about the vintage reels such as J.W. Young Trudex. This is my next reel to test out. You can sometimes find them on ebay especially on the UK market. I would have loved something more modern machined aluminum reels like a Okuma Aventa Pro or even better one of John Milner reels, but at 400AUD and way over they are way too expensive for me. And the Trudex although older than me will continue spinning even when I'll be burried. I manage to find one for a good price and even if it does not suit me (which I doubt) I will still be able to sell it back for the same price or more on the Australian market.
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