38 MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 
winches. The advantages thus gained are increased 
speed and power; speed, inasmuch as the diameter of 
the axle on which the line is wound is enlarged; and 
power, because the handle being further from the axle 
a greater leverage is obtained. Whilst speaking of 
handles, I would here most strongly recommend those 
attached to the side-plate of the reel itself, without any 
crank, as they obviate the constant catching of the 
line which takes place with handles of the ordinary 
shape. 
One serious drawback, and so far as my experience 
goes, one only, is common to every reel hitherto made ; 
namely, that the line is apt to get caught or hitched 
under the posterior curve of the reel itself, thus involving 
a constant trifling annoyance, and in the case of trolling 
and Salmon fishing, a serious danger. To obviate it I 
have had a small spring attached to the last of the lateral 
girders, or supports, and so arranged that when the 
reel is in its place, the spring 
presses closely on the wood or 
fittings behind. This spring, 
of which a diagram is annexed, 
is very inexpensive, and can 
be attached with ease to any 
properly made reel, and I venture to think that no 
troller or fly-fisher who has once found the practical 
convenience of such an antidote to “hitching” will ever 
use a reel without it. 
