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[dennisK]

Ok. Engineers and optimists.

You have a fly reel. You'd like a centerpin.

What do you need to do to make it happen?  a new ball bearing slipped into something....a drill...a hacksaw?

i've got a large arbor reel and it looks like it's a good candidate...

[RalphH]

Many if not most CPs have no drag, the reel free spools and the spool is controlled with the hand?

Most fly reels, at least those with an actual drag (ie a disc drag) rather than a click/pawl ratchet will free spool with the drag rotated to minimum. All you should need to do the is disable the clicker, some have a silent setting or remove it.

[dennisK]

Many if not most CPs have no drag, the reel free spools and the spool is controlled with the hand?

Most fly reels, at least those with an actual drag (ie a disc drag) rather than a click/pawl ratchet will free spool with the drag rotated to minimum. All you should need to do the is disable the clicker, some have a silent setting or remove it.

mine has an actual cork drag. I'll look if i can remove it somehow.

[GordJ]

That’s a really good idea. Take a $20 fly reel, spend $100 bucks and a bunch of time and Voila! you have a $5 Center pin.

[Spoonman]

.......10 foot mono leader and strip cast......did this myself before getting a pin....just have to fish fairly close in and forget the long drifts...definitely not ideal but it was good for numerous coho and at least one steely in the low teens....

[firstlight]

A pin has a bearing or bushing.
Fly reels dont.

[RalphH]

most fly reels have a bushing. The Hardy perfect has a ball bearing race.

[243Pete]

There are a few things you need to take into consideration when looking to use a fly reel as a centerpin,
1. How much space between the spool and the frame, now having used mono running lines in everything from 20lb to 60lb from multiple manufactures there is something called "pull through" which means the line passes through between the spaces on the spool and frame and gets caught in the spindle/ spine of the frame which will cause you to break off from that point, to which you will loose your running line, shooting head or just basically everything beyond that point. A Milner for example is manufactured with such tight tolerances that it's very hard to get any line between the spool and frame, sometimes we all get a little birds nest when casting, and the bottom and top of the frame will hold those loops and those loops will in terms pass through and you will have problems.
2. Packing on the backing cause most fly lines are such a large diameter that it takes up the space between the backing, backing is cheap but you will be winding on more to get that space to give your reel the space needed to take up line properly.
3. Finding a fly reel that will work, but from the sounds and looks of it you have a candidate, just need to remove the little plastic nubs for the clicker and it should work fine.

I hope some of this helps out.

[RalphH]

that's a good point Pete as I have certainly owned some fly reels where the leader can slip behind the spool and tangle in the drag or around the spindle. Fly leader usually have a small diameter at least for their forward portion than the mono lines typically used on CP reels.