202 BY HOOK AND BY CBOOK. 



coiling up across the palm of the hand, or even fold- 

 ing it backwards and forwards across the palm. 



These systems all possess the natural disadvantage of 

 slack line off the reel, which is obviated by the use of 

 a reel, which feeds the rod directly, such as Malloch's 

 patent and the Nottingham reel. 



The former before casting is thrown out of gear, 

 which allows the line to fly off the drum without revo- 

 lution of the same, thus permitting a lighter bait to be 

 cast than would be the case had the bait itself to 

 revolve the drum, in which respect it is valuable, but 

 it must be noted that the line running off in this manner 

 puts a kink upon itself, which must if possible be neu- 

 tralized by the use of many swivels on the cast. 



The drum of this reel is necessarily unguarded by 

 bars, so when upon hooking a fish it is thrown into 

 gear, care must be taken not to throw it out while 

 bringing the fish to hand by winding up the line, as the 

 slightest deviation of the drum from the perpendicular 

 will result in the release of a few coils of line, which 

 the rod takes up with a jerk — a contingency clearly to 

 be avoided. If required, lead can be used on the 

 line. 



The use of the reel is soon acquired, and perhaps the 

 best method is as follows. The cast and bait protrude 

 from the rod point, and the reel is thrown out of gear, 

 the lower hand grasps the rod below the reel, while the 

 upper hand encircles the rod at a distance of a foot 

 above the reel, the palm, second, third, and fourth 



