Coot I agree with your thoughts about long casts and speed of line retreval,I also think there is ego involved when you fish a pin and rightly so it takes lots of river time to master a centerpin.I think that each type of gear has its time and place.Last winter I didn't work and spent week days on washington and BC rivers,I used a centerpin about half the time,at the end of the season about65%of the fish I caught were when using a float and centerpin the best fish battels were on the centerpin.