C/Pins without ratchets

Graham Whatmore · Mar 3, 2010

I have an Adcock Stanton pin but it has no ratchet which can cause problems it being so easily turned, even a wind will turn it if I drop my concentration when messing between casts.

The question is what easy method is there to stop it turning other than by finger pressure?

Jeff Woodhouse · Mar 3, 2010

Graham Whatmore said:
even a wind will turn it if I drop my concentration ................... The question is what easy method is there to stop it

Take Andrews Liver Salts, that helps prevent wind, Graham.

Truthfully, I don't think there is an easy way and it could be expensive to add a ratchet and is the reel worth it? Would it be better to put it on fleabay and then buy a Okuma whatsit thingy, the better ones? What's the sentimental value of it?

The fishing coach · Mar 3, 2010

A few years ago I spoke to Cliff Adcock who made the reel and he said the original reels were made without ratchets as that was what the anglers on the Trent wanted. He later made ones with ratchets, very much as an after thought and when the ratchet was applied they sounded like a tin full of rusty nails, mine does.
So you might be better off, when you want to carry the set up rod, just putting your hook around the bottom eye and then taking a turn of line round one of the handles allowing the rod tip to bend a liitle to keep the tension.

As for "when messing between casts" I find it best to put the rod but under my arm and hold the reel flat with the handles against my body to stop it turning. That gives me both hands free to "mess about"

Its a lovely reel with a bit of character but you may find it will fetch £60 to £80 on ebay, not enough for a new reel of comparative quality.

I would advise you to persevere with the Adcock and Stanton.

Paul Boote · Mar 3, 2010

Yes, I have an early 1980s non-ratchet Stanton, and, whilst it is rather heavy in the drum for light-line Wallis Casting, I still use it on the odd day out on the Thames, fishing from a boat. As for moving swims - in the old days, when I used the thing when roving around a river and trotting, a well-placed thumb did for short swim-hops, and a rubber-band looped over a handle, then round the rod-butt, then back onto the handle for longer ones. One of those pins that I never quite got on with, but as someone once dear bought it for me....

the indifferent crucian · Mar 3, 2010

I'm constantly reading recommendations to buy Okumas on the web, but I have also read that the later versions are not compatible with being right-handed.

I've never tried one, so whilst I can't therefore confirm or deny this I do notice that the drag is hidden where none but a newborn infant could get his fingers...possibly designed by an engineer rather than a fisherman and designed to catch anglers rather than fish ??

Okuma trent centre pin reel - TackleShop.co.uk

Click on the reel image to enlarge and look for the drag adjustment !:wh

Imagine trying to slacken off as a carp runs off with your bait before you get broken orf ...laughable, but it'd look nice on the Christmas tree.

Unless I've got it all wrong and that little knurled nut does summat ?? In which case what does the spiral wheel do ?

Graham Whatmore · Mar 3, 2010

Tried the Andrews Jeff but it just made the wind worse

The Adcock is extremely free running, much moreso than my Speedia which does have have a ratchet. I know about the elastic band trick but on top of having no ratchet the Adcock doesn't have handles either (I prefer to bat it anyhow) making it more of a problem to secure when not actually trotting or walking the bank. I should have pointed that out on my initial post.

Paul Boote · Mar 3, 2010

As someone who, when put up to it as a dare, has caught mahseer to well over 30 pounds on a centrepin (after all, the record-holder, de Wet Van, caught his 120-pounder on such a reel), I scratch my head when reelmakers wheel out a trotting reel with a stardrag. Okay, someone will now say "Ah but they were made for the steelheading market...". Yes, I have caught these too, to over 20 pounds, on a single-handed 9-foot fly rod and reel with just a simple ratchet............

Overkill.

Mark Hewitt · Mar 3, 2010

the indifferent crucian said:
Imagine trying to slacken off as a carp runs off with your bait before you get broken orf ...laughable, but it'd look nice on the Christmas tree.

Unless I've got it all wrong and that little knurled nut does summat ?? In which case what does the spiral wheel do ?

The 'spiral wheel' dose alter the drag, but isn't intended to be used/adjusted for playing fish (finger pressure on the drum for that). It's there to control the speed of the float when long trotting on rivers.

The knured nut is just an on-off switch for the ratchet.

I do think the Okuma pins are excellent for the price.

Paul Boote · Mar 3, 2010

Yes. The Sheffield is a lovely reel. I have had one, with a separately purchased, perfectly fitting spare-spool, for the past four years, and use it a lot.

geoffmaynard · Mar 3, 2010

Paul Boote said:
As someone who, when put up to it as a dare, has caught mahseer to well over 30 pounds on a centrepin (after all, the record-holder, de Wet Van, caught his 120-pounder on such a reel), I scratch my head when reelmakers wheel out a trotting reel with a stardrag. Okay, someone will now say "Ah but they were made for the steelheading market...". Yes, I have caught these too, to over 20 pounds, on a single-handed 9-foot fly rod and reel with just a simple ratchet............

Overkill.

I've handled that reel Paul. Mr Van Ingan showed me his complete tackle collection going back to before WW2 including a full set of Hardy Silex reels.

I never slept that night

Paul Boote · Mar 3, 2010

Didn't come easy for me when, as one of only two anglers on the river (pre-fishing holidays era), "someone" pitched up at a place called Van Ingen's Camp and me plus girlfriend and our tiny tent on a beach a distance upriver, I sat and chatted with him at length in the dusk as he fished with that very reel. Cherished memory.

geoffmaynard · Mar 3, 2010

Is he still alive? He was about 80 when I met him and that was about 15 years ago. He gave me a tour of his old taxidermy 'factory' in Mysore.

Paul Boote · Mar 3, 2010

You probably met Joubert Van Ingen, the younger brother of the record-holder (J.) de Wet Van Ingen, Geoff. Joubert, a lovely man (I once met a man, when trout-fishing the upper Kennet in the early 1980s, who shared the same Japanese prisoner-of-war-camp hut in Burma with him) took on his older brother's mantle as his health failed and dementia set in during the 1980s. Joubert was still alive three or four years ago, I understand.

geoffmaynard · Mar 3, 2010

It was Joubert. An amazing man. He told me some great stories about the war - he was one of those prisoners who built the 'Bridge over the River Kwai'. He would catch turtles on phone-cable lines and smuggle them back into camp to feed the starving sick. If he'd been caught they'd have executed him.

His fishing diaries were pure history - accounts of taking the Prince of Wales mahseer fishing in the '20s... amazing stuff.

alan whittington · Mar 3, 2010

Great tales Paul and Geoff,more please.

jcp01 · Mar 4, 2010

Graham, how about a small dress hook attached to a small rubber band? Fix the band to the rod handle above the reel seat so that its out of the way of your hands and when you want to keep the spool from running just pull the dress hook out and hook it through one of the holes in the spool.

Graham Whatmore · Mar 4, 2010

Rufus, that sounds like a goer to me, when you say dress hook I assume you mean as in hook and eye? Hmmmmm! the more I think about it the more I like it.

the indifferent crucian · Mar 4, 2010

Ah, thank-you Mark. It's a compensating drag, then .... as Gary Mills would call it. It's a bit big though !

Youngs would have been happy with a 'wheel in a hole'

geoffmaynard · Mar 4, 2010

alan whittington said:
Great tales Paul and Geoff,more please.

To me it appeared the Van Ingens were/are, despite their name, old British Raj. They had a taxidermy company in Mysore and had stuffed every species you can imagine. A huge tiger decorated the entrance. All around the room were ancient photos of huge mahseer and men in pith helmets.
A broken tusk on an elephant head; "I had to shoot that one because it was mad with toothache and was trampling huts in the villages"
A bowl of cheap glass bangles and other jewellery; "We found that in the stomach of a crocodile we cut open". It had been attacking the girls as they were washing at the river.
In the early 90s the VIs still had a small retainer of servants and Mr VI would still go fishing. His 'man' would drop him off alone in the jungle with a coracle upstream then drive to get to a spot about 16 miles downstream where he would set up 'camp' complete with silver service and tablecloth. Mr VI would drift down the river fishing his favourite spots till he go to the camp where they would take tea. Another world.
It was his family who imported the idea of coracles to india from Wales.
A wonderful man, I'll never forget him. He wasn't too impressed with me though - I could see him thinking 'long-haired layabout'

jcp01 · Mar 4, 2010

Graham Whatmore said:
Rufus, that sounds like a goer to me, when you say dress hook I assume you mean as in hook and eye? Hmmmmm! the more I think about it the more I like it.

Yep, one of those bent wire contraptions that is probably knocking about in a drawer somewhere.

C/Pins without ratchets

Senior Member

Moaning Marlow Meldrew

Well-known member

Banned

Well-known member

Senior Member

Banned

Senior Member

Banned

Content Editor

Banned

Content Editor

Banned

Content Editor

alan whittington

Guest

Well-known member

Senior Member

Well-known member

Content Editor

Well-known member