Shakespeare Lincoln

[PerchBasher]

Last Christmas my daughter, bless her, bought me a Shakespeare Lincoln. I didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth as she had obviously put a lot of thought onto a present for her old Dad and she is on a student budget, but it looked crude and ugly and with its side cast mechanism appeared more suitable for catching dabs from the beach than trotting a float.

However, I gave it a try and to my astonishment it performed really well. Apart from being solidly made it’s incredibly free running and on sluggish rivers pays out line better than other ‘pins I own that must be worth four or five times what my daughter paid for the Lincoln. I’ve used it for trotting and on still waters and I’m impressed. Also, my Wallis casting is not all it should be and the side cast mechanism has enable me to achieve those additional few yards.

Only two criticisms, it has a brake rather than a ratchet so it’s not really suitable for ledgering. However, if you want an introduction to the delights of centre pin fishing and can’t afford (or don’t want) to pay silly money, you could do a lot worse. Second, its a "modern" looking reel and doesn't really "go" with a split cane rod!

[The Sweetcorn Kid]

Thanks PB, I'll look into that. Your daughter obviously knows her stuff!!!

[LuckyLuca]

Having watched a Rolling pin in action recently I am tempted by a more in my price range Lincoln. Do any of you gents have any recent experience of these please?

[Vole]

Yes, I have one. It's unbelievably free-running, though it makes a mildly disconcerting rumbling sound; the arbour is shallow, which gives a fast retrieve, but can be a headache in a side-wind; it isn't pretty, but it's warm in Winter.
The brake is to lock the spool while side-casting, so as not to get friction burns from the line, as well as for moving swims. On its day (cold and calm), it's hard to beat.

Oh, and the start-up inertia of that light spool is very low. It really is a belter.

[PerchBasher]

I have to agree with Vole that for the money, you can’t really go far wrong.

The shallow spool does mean it can be vulnerable in high winds, but if you (heretically) have the line coming off the top of the reel as I do, this is less of a problem.
For trotting on a river with a sluggish flow I use it in preference to my other pins and if you are on a budget and prefer substance over style in your choice of reels, it is very good value indeed. .

[LuckyLuca]

Thanks for the quick replies gentlemen.
PB in you original post you say it's not really suitable for ledgering as it has no ratchet. Is that down to the lack of audible bite indication? Or am I missing something else?

[MacMan]

As the other gentleman have said, it really is a belter. Designed for float fishing for Luderick in Australia, there is a link here to the different Aussie models, models over here have a ratchet, which would make them suitable for ledgering, there are others with tension control http://www.alvey.com.au/default.asp?contentID=413

The Lincoln is equivalent to a 475B. There are some of the ratchet style ones for sale on ebay.com.au.

Matt

[LuckyLuca]

Thanks Matt. I am awaiting delivery of one now £23 inc postage can't really go wrong!