OLD SCHOOL THRILLER
Why our kayak expert loves a centre-pin.
Humour me, I’m nostalgic for Christmas 1991 in South Africa. Alice Cooper was spot-on: “I’m 18 and I don’t know what I want.” No-one did except Denise, my aunt, the skipper of Sensational. She knew everything! For her nephew, staying with her for a few months, she did anyway. I’m 18 and she gives me my own KP.
She’d already taught me to use one. These were large, black resin centrepin reels with 100lb mono and a varying number of hooks. I’d landed some decent fish on these Scarborough-type reels, not least a 150lb ragged-tooth shark on the day she banned me from trying for a Cape Yellowtail.
Why would you ban someone from catching a fish? Well, yellowtail hit like a train and run. One mistake on a Scarborough and you’re toast; the line overruns, jams around the spindle and you get smashed, or you lose grip on the handle and it breaks your fingers. Yellowtail are hardcore, and we were over a shoal. Denise got smashed up!
The reel she gave me was a Deluxe KP, the version with the hardwood facings, whereas the Standard versions are plain black. I knew it would be fun back in the UK. Sure enough, it was great sport when used, but mostly it sat at home in favour of my normal gear.
DETERMINED TO CATCH
One morning it got a proper workout on my best pike of 23lb – a historic moment for that reel. It lapsed into disuse again as I stopped fishing for 10 years, but when I started kayak fishing in 2006, it went on my first sea launch, a solo trip to the wreck of the White Swan. More history, but I blanked.
I believe these Scarboroughs are the best reels for bottom-fishing in tide. You can let line out easily and trot baits downtide smoothly, and there is a direct one-to-one connection with the fish. The drawback is the freewheeling (there is no ratchet) and the slow retrieve. South Africans love them, from boats and the shore.
Bored with normal downtiding, I hatched a plan. The bass season was starting and I was determined to catch on my KP. Taking bass on lures and other gear, I moved out to a smoothhound mark, anchored over a mussel bed and, of the two set-ups I used, the KP got the most bites and both fish. My appetite was whetted; I wanted a bass.
At dawn the next day I trolled a lure with the KP wedged under my thigh, when I felt the rod bucking; I was in! I’d done it, got my first bass on the KP. Then, with the water colouring up, I headed to the wreck of the Swan. Within minutes a Rapala lure was snagged and lost. On the next pass, I snagged again and the reel, not held firmly enough, spun, ripping both handles off and trashing my beloved KP. It went into semi-retirement – in bits – on a shelf. I got a new one, put to its best use by my daughter landing a smoothhound on it as an eight-year-old on her first kayak fishing session.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Some years later, Aunt Denise sadly passed away. There was nowhere I’d rather be than on the sea to say goodbye, so three days later I was out on Colin de Block’s charter boat Lead Us, out of Lowestoft, Suffolk.
Fishing had been poor, but I was confident that Denise’s spirit was with me, and I had my KP she’d given me. I had started the repair work after smashing it up, replaced the fascias, but I had nothing suitable for handles, so it was unfinished. No matter, though, this one was getting its last outing before full retirement.
As Colin anchored up, I set to work with 1lb of lead weight fishing straight down to keep the minimum line out, along with a size 2/0 Pennell baited with a frozen black lugworm and a diagonal strip of squid.
I missed a whiting bite, and dropped back down without coming all the way up. I set up my other rods; once I’d got my fish on the KP it was coming in. Bang, bang! I struck and could feel a cod. I inched the line in with my palm – with its 1:1 retrieve, small spool with no handles, 1lb of lead weight and 50ft of line out; it wasn’t fun.
“It’ll be time to go in by the time you get that up” said
Colin. They all thought
I had nothing on it, but there it was, a cod, the best of the winter so far. That was it, the
KP was put away and out flew the lead weight on my uptider.
Although it was a cold and misty day, and the fish weren’t throwing themselves at us, we weren’t complaining. It was flat and serene, and pleasant company all round. The cod just didn’t want to feed. Slack passed and the ebb began. I abandoned the uptide fishing and put my bait downtide at an angle and waited.
Thump, thump! Yes, a cod bite and, sure enough, it was a three-pounder. Colin got one, too, same size. Then, 20 minutes before we had to come in, it was another for me. That was it, four codling, the KP taking the only one on the first tide. We docked after a good day afloat, having seen off Denise in style with the old KP, which now sits in my dining room, battered and bruised.
You know what? I think I’ll dig out one of my large Scarborough reels soon. It’s been a while! ■