When it comes to float fishing for Luderick, the centrepin reel is the best tool for the job. Debatable perhaps, but in my opinion, and for the purposes of this article lets assume that this is correct.
Photo 1 - TopLeft Grice & Young Avon Royal Supreme, TopRight Okuma Aventa Pro, BottomLeft Alvey 475B, BottomRight Grice & Young Golden Eagle
I prefer to use a centrepin for a number of reasons. Centrepins give you the ability to let a float drift unencumbered, they let you maintain your line easily, they don't introduce line twist, they allow direct contact when playing a fish and they are easy to maintain. They do have one disadvantage in that they are harder to cast, and you will never get quite as much distance as you could get with a sidecast, for example.
I have described in Luderick 101 - Rigging Up, the gear required to catch luderick and illustrated a simple way to rig a float. In that article I also described the types of bait required. In an article yet to be written I will attempt to describe how to cast a centrepin. In the meantime you may want to have a look at this link or this one
Photo shows the grip on rod, tucked under arm the reel sits so that full control can be achieved with the left hand of line and spool
This article will describe line maintenance, knowing when to strike, and how to go about it.
