Longstone
Hi!
Hope you will help clearing some questions for me!.
Me and my pal fish for salmon in the river Namsen in Norway every year. The method is harling (stoneage trolling!) with 3 rods from the boat. One rows the boat and the other keeps an eye on the gear. Using wobblers and spoons we have caught atlantic salmons up to 35 pounds.
Some of the fishermen from the 50's and 60's used Longstones and Silex reels, because it was all you could get, that worked with salmon up to 60 pounds. Today reels like Ambassador and Calcutta are used. We use the Calcutta 400 and 700, the brake is better than the Ambassadors!.
Allways trying to improve our catch, this year we will try a setup with Longstone centerpins!. Because we have heard of some guys using long slow rods and a centerpin, got more salmon than the others?!. And now we have heard of BC fishermen preferring the use of centerpins.
What is the reason that so many prefer centerpins?. Do you have to use special rods eg a flyrod?.

Best regards
Lasse

The situation here is much as in Norway. Centrepins like the silex were very popular up to 25 years ago but then levelwind reels syuch as the Ambassadors took over largely due to their ability toi cast farther and retrieve line quicker than a centrepin. Centre pins have made a bit of a comeback in the last few years and though Hardy no longer makes the Silex there are other makes available but still I'd guess 70 or 80% of the reels I see on stream are level winds

I think the preference for Centerpin is due to the ability to get a straighter drift, ( i.e. drag free offspooling) when casting from shore. I don't think it would make a difference if you were trolling though.

Cheers!

Another thing going for center pin reels, be they mooching, or castable is: lack of moving parts, therefore lack of failure down the road, if the operator is uncaring about the gear.

When one gets a fish, the sporting aspect is for some greater with a single action reel.

Many of the progressive lodge owners on the west coast are lobbying Hardy to reproduce the Longstone. They are still fishing out there while the modern daiwa, shimano, alvey, sea king mooching reels have died a horrible death in the hands of inexperianced rodsters.

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