Diawa, Shimano CP reels

The recent debate about the merits of Shimano and Diawa reels made me think why either doesn't company made a centre pin reel?

Given that both Diawa and Shimano have a good fan base and CP reels cost a decent few quid why haven't either company entered the CP reel market

I believe that they both have, for the American market. However, they aren't used the way we are more familiar with and they do work slightly differently to the bulk of what we'd call a centrepin.

MOOCHER PLUS GTPA

http://www.daiwa.com/reel/flymooching.aspx

I did look at the prospect of getting hold of one or two as an alternative to an Okuma Trent. The intention being to use it/them for close range carping and a bit of barbelling where a variable drag would be more useful to combat tow than a standard centrepin ratchet. In the end I gave up on the idea as I got a Trent to try and I couldn't be sure of exactly what I might get buying blind from the USA.

I suspect that the reason neither manufacturer produce a pin, as we know them, will be that they consider the market for them to be too small to bother with. Given that Okuma seem to do OK with their pins in the UK and the USA, I'm surprised they haven't given it a go with a broadly comparable reel.

I looked at the mooching reels for use on my kayak, but they are too heavy compared to the Trent. The Yanks do use centrepins for steelhead fishing. They pay top dollar for their 'pins so I'd imagine Shimano or Daiwa could make inroads into the market just as they have with baitcasters.

Lord Paul of Sheffield said:

Yes Sam, I'd have thought that given CP can produce a good following and that other companies find it profitable to sell in UK that either of the Big names in reels here might have produced one for the UK market

Click to expand...

I suspect that the amount of fervent centrepin chatter that's sometimes evident on forums is far greater than actual sales figures of new reels. Whilst I can acknowledge that it's relatively rare to see any anglers on rivers, few of those I do are trotting. Even fewer are trotting using a centrepin. There's a lot of centrepin chatter on this forum, but I'd suggest that's got more to do with the type of angler that frequents the place and is not indicative of the number of centrepin users in the wider angling world.

I had a Diawa centrepin for sea fishing back in the 70s/80s and it did the job, I had congers over 60lb on it and cod to 18lb.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/178666028/vintage-80s-daiwa-275-open-fishing-reel?ref=market

The drag wasn't a drag in the conventional sense, but a tension knob to stop the spool over running. I regarded it like a Gurkha regards a kukri and it never took a backwards turn.

I also had an Alvey sidecast reel, this was a large shallow spooled centrepin reel that twisted 90 degrees at the foot for casting, it could cast huge distances but imparted the worst line twist imaginable.

All in all almost total sh**e compared to what can be bought nowadays for relatively a fraction of the cost. You lucky people, you've never had it so good.

my guess (and it is only that) is that the market is very small- a quality pin will last decades and you will need one, two max. does not add up to a sustainable proposition for major league manufacturing outfits i would have thought.