FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



angler, saw the need of such a reel for casting the 

 live minnow. His first reel, made for his own 

 use, about the date mentioned, was in my posses- 

 sion for some time. It is made of brass, somewhat 

 smaller than the No. 2 Kentucky reel of to-day. 

 The ends of the shaft run on garnet jewels, and it 

 is still in good working condition. 



Before Synder's day, the black bass anglers of 

 Kentucky used the single action reel, and some- 

 times a wooden thread-spool mounted on a brass 

 or iron frame. Many years ago a gentleman 

 named Lewis owned an estate called " Llangollen," 

 a few miles from Frankfort, Ken- 

 tucky, on the banks of the classic 

 Elkhorn, then a famous black bass 

 stream. He was a sportsman of 

 the old school and a frequent con- 

 1 tributor to Skinner's "American 

 Turf Register and Sporting Magazine," and later 

 of Porter's " Spirit of the Times." He was the 

 owner of an old spool similar to the one figured 

 which he left in 1842 with Mr. Sage for repairs, 

 and said that he brought it from his old home 

 at Wytheville, Virginia, and had used it for many 

 years. He preferred it to the multiplying reels 

 then being made in Kentucky, and used it for 

 bait-fishing, as well as for fly-fishing, — a striking 

 310 



