First of all, I blame all of you for my recent addiction to running floats and jigs, spawn, and wormies. My wife hates you all, but you are my heroes. I now have a somewhat smaller stash of goodies than Teds.

I do have a question though. I have been getting along quite well running a baitcaster on my new Loomis 1261 for steelies here in the heartland. Every once in a while, I get over to Michigan, or in to Ontario, and lots of those guys are running center pin reels on their float rods. I have been told that the centerpins really do a nice job of a "drag free" drift with your float. The one thing that wigs me out though, is the "slap the monkey" routine to get your line back in on a drift of any length. Casting is a little bit of a trick also.

I want to get a new reel, and am torn between a new baitcaster, or trying a center pin for this rod. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hawk
I prefer an Ambassador 5000 sprint. 1/2 a turn and no more line belly. The faster retrieve reels in my opinion are the ticket
for bobber fishin. Plus you buy two for the price of a centerpin.

Howdy,
I have to think a spinning reel is the most practical for float fishing. They can cast a dink, with a jig and no additional weight for small stream's (baitcaster's can't even operate in a lot of tight spot's). And while centerpin's can cast light weight rigs, the one to one gear ratio has got to be tiresome. I alway's hear talk of how well a baitcaster can freespool. What I do is just flip my bail, and you can't get a free'er drift than that. It takes getting used to, but by keeping my left hand on the bail ready to flip it back, I can set the hook as soon as the bobber go's down. Am I the only one who does this? I'm feeling Minnisota, but not looking California.

Hump,

Loved your closing line! By the way, I'm with you on this one. I fish mostly with light Thill floats and 1/8 or 1/16 oz jigs, and the spinning reel does the best job. I think the crucial thing with your spinning reel is find a line that flows well off the spool. Do that, and a drag-free drift is easy. A long rod is the other must-have, makes mending much easier and keeps the line off the water.

Keep spanking them out there Hawk. Out here people used to look at you like a freak for using a pink worm, but they're becoming more and more common. Show those mutants how it's SUPPOSED to be done!

Fish on........

Spinning reels cast much easier than the baitcaster with a light setup, but don't offer the freespool control that a baitcaster does. If your strictly dead drifting your jigs then a spinning reel works fine. Mix in a spinglow on your line and you will need to have the baitcaster or Centerpin for proper line control. Since there is more than one method to fish the floats and the tackle under them I would recommend the baitcaster loaded with a floating dacron line. Unless your going to use super light jigs with no additional weight to cast.
As far as jigs go I like the 1/4 oz and larger for the big rivers during winter flows. Jig Colors need to match the water conditions and fish your targeting. Since your in the midwest you might need to go lighter with the jigs to match conditions.

The canadians are the masters of the centerpins and love them for fighting the fish also. A good centerpin will set you back as much as a top of the line gloomis.
The key to good float fishing is line control with floating line and a long rod to help keep the line dry.


------------------
Marty
www.steelheader.net
marty@steelheader.net

I'm one of those Canadian guys you mentioned and have both a centerpin and a baitcaster. The centerpin requires a bit more room for casting but is far more fun to fight a fish on. The baitcaster is an armsaver if you like to run your float greedy distances down-river. The centerpins my favorite, it's just like using a big flyrod. The plus side of a baitcaster is, if you fish hardware like spoons or plugs the gears lessen the winding.
Does it really matter as long as your fish'n?

BCsteel,
Did you ever fish the upper Green River, Palmer area? (King Co.) Met my first float fishermen there.(early 70's) The guys were from the Victoria area. One guy worked at an sport shop and sent me floats. This is how I taught my children(all 7 of them), an easy way to teach kids. My center pin reels were the winonas, they worked great and still do. Over all I still prefer the baitcasters, they are more versatil.

------------------
Tight Lines!!

It was less that one month ago. I was fishing the canyon of the Kalama river and I had the pleasure of meeting an older gentleman Fishing this funny looking real. We spoke for a bit and I moved on. Later that day we happened to walk in to the same hole again. I gave up the hole so I could watch him fish. This guy could cast one small glob of eggs with a snap shot ( very small one) twice as far as I could. The method was beautiful. He could drift really light gear in to any hole Next thing I know he goes "there is a fish behind that rock" next cast FISH ON!!! Well He was using a center pin reel. As I am allways looking for something new I spoke to him about the reel he told me that it was a "Keen Caster" Bought in Seattle 50 yrs ago for $ 2.50. Well I know that modern tech has not caught up to the center pin reel but as far as presentation goes I think it can not be beat. The gentleman also told me there to buy one his friend DUKE makes them. You can buy one to. Its not much to look at but it works well. Call Duke its only $ 30.00 Tel.360-573-6668 Happy fishing and KEEP THE RIVERS CLEAN !!!!

------------------
dank

Dick,
No. Iv'e never been fishing down in Washington. The only place I fish steelies off the island is the Thompson. True about the floats though, first time I took the wife steely fish'n she had 5 on before I'd even done 1. All that they have to know is when it goes down, set the hook. She got 10 fish her first day, sometimes life just isn't fair!

Watched Gary Cooper this weekend fish with a centerpin on TV. He caught several and so did his guide. The river looked pretty high so they were just setting the float in the river and free spooling downstream until it went under....Fish on the fly reel.

hey kalamabama,I think I've met the very same gentleman you're talking about, does he where surgical gloves while fishing,he is amazing and makes it look so easy...see ya in the Canyon...Good Luck

------------------
Tight Lines
FISH ON ------<*)>><
Men are like fish we get into trouble when we open our mouths to much!!

Steelheader boy I did not see the gloves But there can not be many who fish this way and with so much class I bet it was the same guy. See you in the canyon. KEEP THE RIVERS CLEAN