54^ AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



"The next way of angling is with a troll, for the Pike; 

 you may buy your troll ready-made, therefore I shall not 

 trouble myself to describe it, only let it have a winch to 

 wind it withall, and when you may certainly conclude he 

 hath pouched your bait, and rangeth abroad no more, then 

 with your troll wind up your line, till you think you have it 

 almost straight; then with a sharp jerk, hook him, and make 

 your pleasure content. * ' * 



"The Salmon takes the artificial fly very well; but you must 

 use a troll, as for the Pike, for he, being a strong fish, Will 

 hazard your line except you give him length." 



From the character of these statements, we may safely 

 conclude that the reel had but just been introduced, and was 

 not then by any means well known. It appears, however, 

 to have grown rapidly in favor during the remainder of the 

 seventeenth century, and to have become recognized, by the 

 beginning of the eighteenth, as a necessary article in every 

 well-to-do angler's equipment. There are still to be found 

 men who take fish with a hook, and who think they enjoy 

 doing so, who adhere to the ancient float, and who scout the 

 reel as a superfluous bit of modern extravagance. Such 

 men, however, do not cannot obtain the full meed of sport 

 from angling. They are ignorant of one of the greatest 

 sources of pleasure in either bait or fly fishing, namely, the 

 music of the reel, the pleasure of taking and giving line, and 

 the confidence and sense of superiority that the angler feels 

 who holds the crank of his reel and watches the frantic leaps 

 of the gamy Trout, the lusty Black Bass or the lordly 

 Salmon. 



No Angler's outfit is, complete therefore, without a good 

 reel, and the better the reel, the more complete his outing 

 and his summer pleasure will be. As the heart is the seat 

 of life, and as perfect health depends upon its action, so the 

 reel is the most important part of an angler's kit, and the 

 success of his tours depends upon its good behavior. Nothing 



