Matt Hayes "Limited Edition" centrepins!

 It must have been way back in 2013 when Dragon Carp had a store in Ramsgate. A temple to cheap, and cheerful, Chinese produced, crap fishing kit? Certainly the Carp Kinetic brand label was akin to "Satanic worship" such was the mentality within carp anglers of the period. The enterprise was part of Mike Ashley's  "Sports Direct" empire and, as such, could wield amazing influence in the market place. Just as Mick Brown had sold his soul to Shimano, Matt Hayes did so with the CK brand label. Yet another demonstration of the power of money over personal ethics.  So this is my starting pitch. Matt Hayes had allowed his name to be scribed on a centrepin reel which, to all intents and purposes, was manufactured by folk who had not the first idea what the finished item was to be used for? In this instance, the engineering wasn't too shabby, it was the assembly of the assorted components which caused the issues. I purchased three of these items, feeling sure I had enough confidence to tweak them into shape, and so it proved. They are actually true centrepins, not some look alike ball bearing type reel, and reminded me, very much, of the old Grice & Young "Big Piker"

There were three major issues with the reels, as they came off the shelf. One; the ratchet system was ridiculously tight. Two, the rotating drum (the spool?) was prone to be warped and three, the central screw, on the drum, hadn't been properly positioned. The ratchet was easy to rectify, simply by bending the sprung metal bar which applied pressure to the "clicker" thus reducing the force on this mechanism. The warped drum could be properly aligned by adjusting some, or all of, the six spokes on the outer face, whilst the fine adjustment of the central screw ensured that all three of my examples are now as free spinning as any Allcock's Match Aerial I'd ever used. 

Having ironed out these problems I admit that I've grown rather fond of these Chinese reels. Under no circumstances do they come close to the build quality of the more traditional versions yet, they've performed admirably for me in many situations. My PB Barbel, that 24 lbs 10 oz Loch Awe Pike and several nice "wild" Carp have been landed using these reels and to be fair, because they are not top notch kit, I tend to rather abuse them. My "Match Aerials", both Allcocks & Fred Crouch versions, are handled with kid gloves by comparison to the treatment these reels are subjected to. So there you have it, my personal assessment of these cheap reels. Obviously, you pay your money and make your choice. That there will be other anglers who disagree with my opinions isn't an issue. I'm happy to use them, so nothing else really matters?

Back out this morning for another session on the RMC and yet another "double" on the centrepin set-up. A fairly non-descript fish, of 14 lbs 12 oz, was landed within an hour of me getting the rods out. It was the only action I experienced, although I'm certainly not complaining. Cracking morning, weather wise, plus I had a nice chat with a couple of the regular dog walkers who visit this section of the canal. 

Finally, I got another addition for the BWKm0 list, on Saturday morning.

BWKm0 - No. 72 - Shelduck - five flew north over the garden, early doors, whilst I was struggling to spot what had sent the local Herring Gulls into meltdown! This is the first garden and patch record of this species, so very much appreciated.