"Path To The Pin"

Angler's and the reward of pinning!

“Path to the Pin: Part Two”

By Todd Harris - May 10, 2012

To Read Part One Scroll Down.

Casting a center pin reel is unique and somewhat challenging. I recommend checking out some videos and putting in some practice. However, you can be successful without being a proficient caster. If you fish from a boat, then you may want to try the following technique whenever the water conditions allow.

Most of the time when I am guiding centerpin anglers, I will hold the boat IN the water I want them to fish, either by sitting on anchor, or working the oars, similar to plugging. Then, all that is required of the angler is to simply drop the offering in the water off the front of the boat, and let the current take the float downstream. The beauty of this technique is that there is no need to mend as you are fishing in-line with your float. Any necessary line management will be very minimal. This makes a huge impact on the quality of drift you can accomplish because your float is rarely disturbed due to mending and/or drag. The other nice thing about fishing this way is that you eliminate conflicting currents that may interfere with your drift. When your float gets to the end of the drift, reel up and drop it again. If you are working big water, simply change the lane you run each drift and you can effectively cover all the water. Again, this “in-line” method of pinning only works for certain water types that allow you to set up in-line with the water you want to fish.

Many pieces of water are going to be smaller, more defined, too fast, or for some other reason unfishable with an in-line presentation. In these scenarios, I will anchor up as close as I can to the holding water, again trying to avoid mending, drag, and conflicting currents. I always try to avoid long casts if I can. This just means more line on the water causing me trouble.

Water clarity also plays a huge role in how I fish. Obviously if you are fishing low, clear water, you would not want to anchor too close to the holding water. Centerpins really shine in low water due to the long drag-free drifts that you can get. I like to set up way above where I think fish will be and run really long drifts to avoid spooking fish with the boat.

Many times steelheading success is more about HOW you fish than WHAT you fish. “When steelhead are in the mood they will eat your car keys!” This quote came from one of the great pioneers of steelheading in the Northwest and rings in my head all the time. The discussion that followed was about how much more important all the other factors were and fly choice was more about your confidence. Many steelheaders get caught up in what they are fishing and fail to pay closer attention to how they are fishing. Again, the key to the success of the centerpin is in the ultimate presentation.

In part one I talked about how critical it is to get a dead drift. However, there are times when fish prefer a little more action. When fishing jig heads have you ever noticed that when dead drifted, the jig head is in front of the worm or jig feathers? Next time you’re on the river, drop your jig in the water and watch as it drifts, and you will notice that the heavy head will lead your worm or hair downstream. Something I have played with is putting very slight pressure on the spool as line is paying out, just enough to tilt your float back a little, and slow your drift slightly. What happens is your jig head will be held back just enough to allow your worm or feathers to “swim”. This idea came from my time swinging flies. When swinging, you want to get your fly under tension as soon as possible to impart that deadly swimming action. A dead drifted fly does not have near the action of a fly under tension. I think the same principle applies to jigs to a certain extent. I began to notice that a lot of my better pieces of jig water always had some amount of surface chop. This chop creates vital action on the jig. So, I started holding back my drift a little in water with little or no surface chop to create my own swimming action and found some good results. This can get tricky so another great option is to switch terminal gear for different water types. Typically whenever I have good surface chop, I will go with a pink worm or marabou/bunny jig. When I encounter relatively calm or slick-surface water, I will switch to a bead. I mentioned bead fishing in part one and highly recommend trying one in this type of water. Beads are meant to tumble naturally and fish really well in calmer water.

If you enjoy float fishing, you owe it to yourself to give centerpinning a try. I guarantee that after some practice you will be blown away by the drifts you can accomplish and how effectively you can fish all water types. When your first fish is hooked on a pin, you will enjoy the intimate, no-drag fight, and the ultimate feel of chrome throbbing on the end of a long,light rod, and you will be back for more!

“Path to the Pin: Part 1”

by Todd Harris - April 27,2012

Memories are funny, especially when it comes to steelhead. I have a hard time remembering many simple day-to-day things in life, but when asked about a fishing trip, whether it was recent or many years back, I am able to recount every fish, how, and where they were caught, and what the water conditions were like. My path to centerpin fishing for steelhead goes like this.

When I was six, I landed my first steelhead on a plug with my father on the oars; I remember that day well. I am now 35 and have been obsessed with steelhead ever since. I have gone through a progression of sorts in my steelhead pursuits. After landing my first fish on that plug, I wanted more! More became my goal on every outing for many, many years. When I would float a river, I had plug rods, drift fishing rods, and later bobber rods. I would fish each piece of water with the most productive technique. I had finely tuned plugs, good bait, hand tied jigs…The list goes on.

When I was a junior in high school, I asked for a fly rod for Christmas and my love affair with fly fishing began. My days of plugging, side drifting, diver and baiting, drift fishing, and bobber fishing with spinning gear were over. I sought out everything I could on fly fishing and eventually had my first “tug” on the swing and, to say the least, I was exhilarated. I found out how effortless two-handed rods were for delivering the fly, and soon all you could find in my boat was a quiver of two-handed rods rigged for swinging. I did nothing but swing for years. The days of big numbers were gone, but one on the swing was plenty.

One afternoon after swinging a run with a good friend of mine, we were sitting on his tailgate and he mentioned that he was looking to sell his centerpin gear. At this point, I had never even laid eyes on this stuff. He pulled out this long soft rod with a funny looking reel latched on by a couple of sketchy looking rings. He showed me the set up and explained that it is a deadly way to fish “floats”. Thus began the next phase in my pursuit of steelhead.

Catching steelhead on a swung fly is an amazing feeling, and I believe something every steelheader should at least try in his or her lifetime. I still love to swing, but I was always mindful that I was passing up a lot of greedy water that could not be fished with a fly. As I learned the deadly potential of a centerpin, I started swinging the good swing water and pinning the rest. This is where I am today and I love the traditional approach and the one- on-one fight you get with a centerpin reel. So, I would like to share some of what I have learned since that day many years ago when I first touched a centerpin reel in hopes that others might pick up on this challenging, yet highly effective, method of fishing.

I still get funny looks on the water here in the Northwest, as many anglers have never seen a centerpin reel in action. My fishing buddy who passed along his gear to me is from the Midwest where steelheaders have been pinning for a LONG time, and the tradition runs VERY deep with centerpins.  The question I get most often from my friends and clients is why use centerpin gear when you can fish floats with any type of rod and reel. My response is that you can accomplish the ultimate drift and maintain commanding control, it’s challenging, and it’s really fun to fight fish on. I float fished for years with spinning and level wind reels and I can tell you that you will LOVE the line control and the long unencumbered drifts you can get with a centerpin set up.

Getting started with a new technique is tough from a financial standpoint, and you have to be patient with the learning curve. As with everything fishing, one can spend a lot of money on gear or go cheap. Find what fits your budget and what you are comfortable spending. If you have the means, I would say put your money into the reel. I own Islanders and Ross. As for rods, my first was a St. Croix and no matter how hard I tried to break that thing, it just kept fishing. Now I own Loomis rods and they are incredibly light and sensitive. My favorite length is in the 11’3”-13’ range. They come in longer lengths but I haven’t seen the merit in the waters I fish. Load the reel with backing and top it with a highvis floating mono, like Raven mainline, and you are on your way.

Next comes how to rig this type of setup. To avoid the inevitable line twist that comes with most techniques of centerpin casting, you will want to tie a micro swivel to your main line. I use Raven 4X-small as they seem to pass through the guides relatively well, and I have yet to have one fail even on the occasional Chinook that decides to grab a steelhead offering. Next, the most simple rigging involves about 8ft of low vis mono or fluorocarbon. My mainline is 12lb so I use 12lb for this first section of my leader. The next piece is your float. The vast majority of the time a fixed float will do the job. If you encounter a piece of water that is really deep, you may need a slip float, which is a whole different set up. For this article I will focus on a fixed float rigging. Raven makes a variety of floats that will fit any water type you may encounter and they attach to your line with silicone tubing. One thing I have found is the 3/32” diameter tubing works best for the bottom AND top of the float. The smaller diameter on top tends to reduce float slippage when setting the hook. Having the float attached by only the tubing allows for quickly changing floats when needed.

Once the float is attached, tie on another micro swivel and about 3ft of 6-10lb tippet. Just remember that you do not want your total leader length longer than your rod. With this set up you should break off at the bottom swivel and save your float should you find a snag.

The final piece is what to fish as your offering. My first steelhead on a centerpin fell for a 3 inch pink worm on a ¼ ounce jig head under a FM 6.2 gram Raven float. To this day, that is one of my go-to offerings for winter steelhead. I like to keep things relatively simple, and it does not get much easier than a pink worm or hair jig under a float. One KEY is matching your float to the amount of weight you are fishing. You want your float to ride straight up and down when dead drifted and the color change should be right at the water line. I primarily fish two floats, again keeping things simple. The fast medium (FM) floats from Raven have a nice taper for most steelhead water with the 6.2g supporting a ¼ ounce jig head nicely and the 5.0g float supporting a 1/8 ounce jig head. I could go on forever about the subtleties of balancing a float, but this will get you in the game.

The other method I use quite often is a single trout bead pegged 2 inches from the hook. I have guided in Alaska for 12 years on the upper Kenai and have taken the bead form AK trout to Northwest steelhead and found amazing results. Fishing a bead requires distributing the weight down your leader, creating a “shot pattern”. This pattern of shot will help balance your float and correctly present the bead. Shot pattering can get very technical and I recommend doing some research. I learned by trial and error but as a general rule, I run 3-4 bb shot on the bottom swivel and spread shot out in 1-2ft increments until my float rides properly. Raven makes a variety of shot that will suit shotting for Northwest steelhead. Bead fishing for steelhead is catching fire, and fishing one under a float with a centerpin is a must for the bag of tricks.

When presenting a jig, or bead, or any thing for that matter with a centerpin, you want as close to a dead drift as possible and this is easily attained with a centerpin. Set your depth to within a foot of the bottom and cast your offering into likely water and let it run drag free. Adjust your depth until you touch bottom then come up just a bit to put your offering in the zone. Constantly adjusting your depth for each new piece of water is critical.

A drag free drift is the key to this technique, and the high-visibility floating monofilament will help you achieve a perfect drift. The concept of mending is known to fly fisherman and applies to float fishing as well. If you begin to develop a downstream belly in your line, lift your rod and manipulate your line to eliminate the belly. When mending, try not to disturb your float as it glides through the drift. LONG drifts are possible with a pin, but only allow your float to run as long as you can detect a strike. With the long rods used in centerpinning, you can set the hook at the end of an extended drift, just but be sure to swing big and reel until you feel the fish.

If all goes well and you end up tied into some chrome, then you will experience the give-and-take battle of fighting a fish on a centerpin. With zero drag you must finger or palm the rim of the reel during the fight. This takes some getting used to and is a lot of fun. The finesse involved makes landing a fish a bit more of a challenge than with other types of reels. In my next segment I will talk more on the finer points of how to fish a centerpin effectively.

Come back next week for part two of "Path to the Pin"...