Kingpin Regency 378 Centrepin Reel

In days gone by and now long forgotten by many of us, being able to use the centre pin reel was an essential skill that all anglers had to have in their arsenal. Even after the development of the fixed spool reel around 40 years ago, the centre pin was, and still is, the most exciting reel to play fish on. With this being the opinion of many die hard river veterans and angling purists alike, the centre pin is without a doubt the only reel that you can say you have “truly played a fish on”.

One British company that is keeping the legacy of the centre pin reel alive is Dorset based Kingpin Reels Ltd. They have over the past decade utilised the engineering skills of parent company KW Engineering, who have in the past produced components for the now very sort after Arnold Kingpin centre pin reels. Due to circumstances changing in their favour around 10 years ago, KW Engineering brought Arnold Kingpin and dropt the “Arnold” to produce and sell reels under the banner we know as Kingpin.

Since then the company have designed and created a range of centre pin reels that incorporates every ounce of engineering knowledge and experience this AS9100 certified company has gained over their 25 years in the aerospace, aviation and defence sectors. They now make reels that hold true to the heritage and quality that the prestigious name so rightly deserves, whilst at the same time adding design and technological developments to make the “already perfect” even better.

Kingpin bulk build products of the highest quality and still offer the customer an individuality that is unique. Each centre pin is machined, precision ground, and assembled to exacting tolerances and crafted in England. Every component is inspected on state of the art machinery and then every reel is thoroughly checked for concentricity on CMM machine. It is then recorded onto a database and the data can be retrieved via your reel's serial number, which is found on the reels back plate.

Out on the Bank Test

The Regency 378 is Kingpin’s smallest reel and designed for an angler who enjoys being in direct contact with his targeted species. The excitement that using this centre pin reel, can give an angler has been well and truly captured in these superbly engineered reels that most definitely wear the £299.00 price tag like a glove. If I was told 8 months ago, that I would spend £300 on a centre pin reel, I would have told them “they were out of their minds” but not anymore.

To see exactly what the Kingpin Regency 378 was capable of, we took it to Biggin Lake, near Oundle in Northamptonshire to have a play on this 200 year old, well stocked estate lake that has some of the hardest fighting common carp I have ever caught. With average depth of only four feet, when you connect with the resident carp the only place they can go is out and these carp move like rocket. I believe if you want to test a centre pin reel then there is no better venue in the Midlands.

For the test I loaded the Regency 378 with 50 yards of a very reliable 8lb line that we fished straight through for piece of mind and reliability. We teamed the Regency up with the British built Harrison Advanced 2lb test curve Torrix Specialist rod, which has a nice progressive action that would suit the waggler approach we had chosen for the test perfectly. So the only thing we had to do now was catch a one of the many ravenous but cautious big commons who resided in the depth.
Now before I go any further I must inform you that my first and last experience with a centre pin reel was about 34 years ago, when I was 11 years old.  I was given an old wooden pre-war centre pin reel that was permanently attached to a reclaimed tank aerial. Now not wishing to be ungrateful, but after using these fossilised tackle remains, this had turned me off centre pin reels for life, but after 10 minutes on the bank with the Kingpin Regency 378, my opinion were going to permanently change.

I fed an area about 4 rod lengths out next to a large area of lilly pads with pellets and baited the size10 hook with a banded 10mm pellet and cast my rig out to a crescendo of bubbles just on the edge of my baited area. I settled back on my box and fired a few pellets out with my catapult to entice the carp from under the, now rocking, lilly pads and draw their attention towards my baited hook - which was no more than two feet away from the underwater commotion.

After what seemed like ages but was only a matter of minutes, my float slid away and I struck totally forgetting to hold onto the reel and the ratchet instantly screamed. To my dismay a very large swirling wave appeared in the water and a I had bumped the fish off (totally gutted)  After re-writing the Tourette’s Syndrome dictionary, I composed myself to see if this time I could connect with one of the numerous fish feeding directly underneath my float - that was now dancing from the constant underwater movement. 

I was just about to fire out another pouch of pellets with the catapult when the rod tip flew round and I was engaged with a good carp, hell bent on burying my rig in the middle of the lilly pads. The ratchet on the reel was now making that sound that we all hear from a reel when watching experienced anglers on the bank or whilst watching those classic angling TV shows like “The Fishing Race”( yes I know I’m showing my age) , but for me this was my first real centre pin experience.

The thrill and excitement of playing a carp on the Kingpin Regency 378 for the first time was one I would never forget. It was like the reel was an extension of your hand. I could actually feel every muscular pulse that the angry beast at the other end was generating through the hook to the reel line, in its vain attempts to gain freedom from my control. This was the sensation I had dreamt about as a young angler, I now know why anglers exactly why so many anglers love the centre pin so much.

Even during the extremes of the battle with this powerful creature, at no point did I feel that the reel couldn’t cope, in fact it seem to enjoy the work. I can honestly say that the Kingpin Regency 378 centre pin has now demonstrated to me the total angling experience that I’ve been missing out on for nearly 35 years as an angler. After just over ten minutes of mayhem and what I can only describe as the most memorable fight I have ever had from a carp of just over 10lb.

Final Thoughts

The Kingpin Regency 378 gives you the angler a contact with your quarry that you just don’t get from a fixed spool reel. If you fish for carp in the margin on gravel pits or commercial waters or even trotting on rivers for chub and barbel, this magnificently engineered piece of angling equipment, gives the angler an incredible experience. UKMA would recommend the Kingpin Regency 378 to any angler who loves to play fish using the traditional methods and the best tackle money can buy.

“A magnificent reel for anglers who love to play fish”

For more information about the Kingpin range of centrepin reels, please visit the company's website by clicking the image below.