sly_karma
Crew Member
I've been reading a bit about steelhead fishing of late after having a taste when I was in Smither a couple weeks ago. There's lots of mention online about centre pin reels, that term appears to be specifically applied to reels for steelhead. But physically the reel appears to be from the same family as fly reels and 'knuckle buster' salmon reels. Surely they are all centre pin styles, with variations in size and heft based on the species they're intended for.
A steelhead centrepin reel looks like it's midway in size between a fly reel and a salmon 'mooching' reel. (Another question there of course - I suspect mooching reels were just ordinary single action reels that happened to work with the mooching technique that developed on the BC coast decades ago). Could a mooching reel with a drag release switch be made to work for steelhead drift fishing? That would describe most of the popular salmon reels out there now, like the Daiwa M-One, Shimano GT and the Islander MR2.
A steelhead centrepin reel looks like it's midway in size between a fly reel and a salmon 'mooching' reel. (Another question there of course - I suspect mooching reels were just ordinary single action reels that happened to work with the mooching technique that developed on the BC coast decades ago). Could a mooching reel with a drag release switch be made to work for steelhead drift fishing? That would describe most of the popular salmon reels out there now, like the Daiwa M-One, Shimano GT and the Islander MR2.