Handles or no handles?

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Olly
Wild Carp
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Re: Handles or no handles?

Post by Olly »

Solved if the line comes off the bottom.

Not so if it comes off the top - no line guard required!

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Match Aerial
Arctic Char
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Re: Handles or no handles?

Post by Match Aerial »

Your better off with the line running off the top of the reel.
And the handles should be short or removed. A lot if centrepins have handles which are too long

You will have no problem getting fish in the net its just practice.

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Reedling
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Re: Handles or no handles?

Post by Reedling »

No line guard and wind blowing line off the reel, getting caught around the handles, taking the handles off, line coming off the top! no wonder people get confused and give up on centrepins.

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Olly
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Re: Handles or no handles?

Post by Olly »

Each to their own!

Tried and tested for 60 years alongside Bill Rushmer.

Originally the line DID come off the top on Aerials - they were spinning reels used on top of the rod (like a multiplier) reeling in with right hand forward motion.

Copies are in the old Farlows Catalogue I have alongside the book "Fisherman's Pie" - pages 140 'Spinning for Salmon' with photos opposite page 142. The description of the 3 photos is - "Bait-casting with an Ariel reel".

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Michael
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Re: Handles or no handles?

Post by Michael »

Yes, each to their own, there's no right or wrong way, It's just a matter of preference.
I've been fishing this way for over 57 years, and I'm more than happy with it so far....

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AndyPop
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Re: Handles or no handles?

Post by AndyPop »

Olly wrote: Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:04 am I have handle-less Adcock Stanton and Leeds reels. They are a large diameter - 5 in - and used exclusively for trotting - using the finger holes and batting to retrieve the line - which comes off the top. So batting upwards away from the body.

My right thumb gives the pressure required for playing a fish and the "left finger in the hole" retrieves the line albeit at a slower rate than handles. Retrieving with a small diameter is quite - well awkward.

Leeds reels are available quite cheaply from a well known auction site.

I also have both reels with handles.

Just seen the above re large fish - you don't crack you fingers with no handles!
I to have Stanton's without handles. Brilliant bits of kit, great for trotting until you nail a good sized Barbel. One fateful evening I had 4 in around 45min in the 6-8lb category on the River Soar. By number 3 my left index finger was purple like I'd slammed it in a car door!
"Carpe Diem" does not mean "fish of the day."

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Olly
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Re: Handles or no handles?

Post by Olly »

I have been whacked by a c/p handle when playing carp - very very painful! The finger in the hole method is only used once they "calm down" & stopped running!

You can use your left palm to move the spool - but only very slowly!

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Michael
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Re: Handles or no handles?

Post by Michael »

I can't say I've suffered from whacked fingers or knuckles, from the centrepin handles. But I have suffered friction burns, whilst using my palm and thumb, to slow the drum down, though we we attached to 32 & 33Ib'ers.

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Willsmodger
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Re: Handles or no handles?

Post by Willsmodger »

Hi Michael

Those Bewicks look very nice. I've heard good things about them.
My original plan was to use one of my Okuma Sheffield's as a trotting reel and have a line guard fitted to the other as a speci/margin pin.
After a total botch with a cut down TFG line guard (available separately online) I sent it to Gary Mills for the fitting of a line guard, a cage type rather than the smiley.
It arrived just before Christmas. Looked fantastic.
The problem was running line from the bottom meant that the line chafed against the bar due to the angle of the butt ring. I had just one rod out of my collection that
could be used without the line chafing. And not the one I would have preferred to use it with.
Faced with altering the position of the butt ring on my preferred rods I decided to remove it.
It was also made out of rather soft wire which bent easily.
Starting again, I got the TFG and then spent a bit of money on the Kennet. Sorted now.
Thanks for showing the Bewicks. That's what i should have had fitted in the first place. Idiot that I am.

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Match Aerial
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Re: Handles or no handles?

Post by Match Aerial »

Biggest problem with a line guard is if you do get and tangle its a nightmare to get out .
It's far better to run the line off the top and get used to winding backwards. Which won't take long.

Those hardy conquest handles look like a good idea reverse tapered do they alleviate the problem ?

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