Moocher Man, I have had the pleasure to fish with some accomplished center pin fishers from our neighbors up north in B.C. As Mooch indicated a true center pin is a finely machined reel, you probably won't be able to find a quality one for much under $200 US. Islander, Hardy, Milner are some of the names I've heard and it's not unusual to pay well over $500 for a good one. Rods for these reels resemble spey rods with short butts and long fore grips, typically 10.5 to over 12 feet long. There is a learning curve on casting a center pin but it can be accomplished in a morning without too much blood flowing from your knuckles, bring a few band-aids though. :p Everyone will holler "rookie alert" when they hear the handles buzz your knuckles. None of the ones I've seen have a spool lock so you can forget about putting one in a rod holder like in Sky-Guy's photo. All the ones that I have seen only have "free spool" and "free spool with a clicker" With the clicker "on" there is just enough tension so you can put your hook in the hook keeper and walk to the next spot with draping line everywhere but that's about all the tension there is. Everything else is single action and a lot of fun.