BAIT CASTING FOR BASS 



in a series of knots and snarls which may run clear 

 to the spindle and which may keep one, half an hour 

 or so in getting the line free. Of course, if one 

 has to stop and pick out a tangle in the line before 

 he begins to reel in his bait, much of the luring 

 quality of his cast is gone the bass has had time 

 enough to learn all about the lure which is offered 

 him. The bait caster, therefore, must gently thumb 

 his reel so that the spool will be smooth when his 

 bait lands. Then he can give it the little twitch in 

 imitation of life, and begin steadily to reel it in, to 

 the excitement of the fish which sees it. 



All bait-casting reels are made of quadruple gear 

 so that the line may be recovered very rapidly. As 

 this means gain-gearing in the wheels, it must be 

 seen that the workmanship needs to be very fine. 

 It is so fine that ordinarily the reel is much better 

 than the user of it. One does not learn to cast with 

 a good reel and to keep it free of snarls all the time 

 in his first season nay, nor in his second. 



Seeing that this back-lash drawback was an in- 

 jury to trade, many of our tackle-makers set about 

 freeing the angler of the nuisance. There have 

 been many inventions for application to casting reels 

 anti-back-lash appliances, level-spooling reels, 

 self-winders, etc., the intention of each of which is 

 to keep just strain enough on the line so that it will 



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