194 MODERN SEA FISHING 



light weights it is therefore desirable that the drum of the reel, 

 though large, should be of a light material. Some day we may 

 see them made of aluminium. 



It is not altogether easy to give satisfactory instructions in 

 writing for casting from the reel in the fashion known as the 

 Nottingham, which practically originated with the anglers of 

 the Trent ; but anyone who closely follows the directions here- 

 after furnished should, after a little practice, acquire the knack 

 of it. Assuming that the beginner is a right-handed man, he 

 should stand with his left side towards the sea, and hold the rod 

 with the right hand above the reel and the left hand below it, 

 pointing the rod along the line of shore and rather away from 

 the sea than towards it. The rod should be a little above the 

 horizontal, not much. The first finger of the left hand should 

 bs pressing against the rim of the reel to prevent it revolving, 

 and the line should be wound neatly on the reel until only five 

 or six feet of line and trace together depend from the point of 

 the rod. The rod should then be waved back and checked for 

 an instant, when the bait will swing pendulum-like backwards 

 and upwards. As it reaches the full height of its swing, the 

 rod should be brought smartly forward in the direction the 

 angler wishes to cast, and the reel released by removing the first 

 finger of the left hand. I do not pretend to say what the bait 

 will do at this first cast. The line may twist round the angler's 

 neck. When success meets his endeavours, and the leaded 

 trace is seen flying out over the sea, like a rocket shot from a 

 life-saving apparatus, then comes the most important and 

 delicate task of all namely, to check the reel at the right instant 

 and to put on the pressure of that first finger of the left hand 

 slowly and gradually. 



It is a very free-running reel, mind ; and, on being started 

 with a jerk, soon revolves infinitely faster than is required by 

 the line which is leaving it. In anglers' language, it will ' over- 



