Product Description –
One of the best tests of the smoothness of a centrepin is to spin the reel and time how long it goes for.
A £200-plus centrepin tested recently by Angling Times went for just over a minute and a half while this new ’pin from Avanti was still going strong well beyond two minutes! It might not have the name of some top UK specimen angler on it, but this 4ins ’pin will not disappoint anglers looking for a great reel for trotting river floats, barbel fishing, or even stalking carp and tench on traditional tactics on stillwaters.
Price £30.00 + plus some delivery charges of £6
The Reviewer says –
Interest in this reel was first fired from a forum thread on FishingMagic started by ‘Beaker’ who’d asked for recommendations for a centrepin costing no more than £50. A tough call, how many half decent centrepins can you get for just over £50, never mind UNDER £50. Member ‘Alan Roe’ suggested one of these Marco Cortesi reels and said he’d ordered one whilst ‘George387’ had bought one already and had caught some 57 grayling on it in one session!
Well, I’m impressed, but let’s have the truth out. Many have spotted this same reel as sold by TFGear for £99 and by Waterline for £59.99 and there’s no doubting these are made by the same factory, but available from Dragon Carp Direct for half the price of the Waterline model. Now who could resist a bargain like that, £36 including delivery for a centrepin?
This had to be investigated.
And so it was, I ordered one and it looked fine. I did detect a small problem, I think it was, with the rear bearing, but after sending it back, Dragon Carp replaced it with no quibbles! The new one is perfect and spins like a good ‘un.
I have a Kingpin that I’ve had for years and that will spin for 2 minutes. This doesn’t spin for as long as that, despite what the blurb in their listing says, but I really don’t care how long it spins for. What matters to me is how much force from a float does it take to get the spool moving, I’ve talked about this before and called it the ‘drop time’.
What the ‘drop time’ is, you put the reel onto a normal float rod and thread line from the reel through all the rings. Onto the end of the line you attach a reasonable stick float plus a couple of no. 4 shot, being the lightest you’d most likely use. Now see if, when holding the rod level, the weight of that is capable of turning the spool to pay off line. If not then attach another no.4 shot and another until it does.
Some centrepin reels may need up to 5 or 6 no. 4s to be attached to the line before the reel turns, but this little beauty turned with just the two shot on it. For me that says far more than how long it spins for. In use, this means that the lightest float cast out in a reasonable current will start the reel turning and paying off line.
When I tested the reel on the Thames the river was pushing through and I found I had to slow the reel down by thumbing the edge a little. It behaves great and since then I’ve also tested it on the Itchen catching grayling. Only a few times did I get a tangle where spare line gets wrapped around the back of the reel, but that was caused by the wind and the fact I was fishing the reel left to right. It doesn’t happen at all when trotting right to left so I like using this Marco reel.
There’s a ratchet on the back that when clicked on gives a nice noise, very suitable for when fishing for carp in the margins with the rod locked down. Just wait for the reel singing and you know you’ll be into some fun. Otherwise the ratchet makes a nice spool-stopper.
This is one smart looking reel as well, looks as good as many in the upper £100+ section, the Greys Bewick at £150 comes to mind, although when compared with dearer reels still, like the Kingpin, the finish on those is obviously quite superior. Just let’s gets back to the price on this though, a new Kingpin will now cost you £330 upwards. This reel is £300 less than that remember, it’s only £30 + £6 postage and packing and at that price you cannot possibly go wrong. If you buy one and have any problem with it the company will happily replace it or have it repaired.
If, like many who have already bought it, you are looking for a standby/spare centrepin reel or you just want to see and experience for yourself the joys of fishing with a centrepin for the first time, this has to be the bargain of the year. I cannot stress enough, get one of these now, don’t miss out!
BAG A BARGAIN NOW, DON’T MISS OUT THIS CHRISTMAS!
