SELF-THUMBERS VS. BACKLASHES 27 

 MORE POPULAR EVERY DAY 



The fact that you see more of these reels each 

 year shows that they are popular with the week-end 

 fisherman. No matter how proficient a fellow may 

 be in the casting game, every now and then he piles 

 up a backlash that makes the air assume a beautiful 

 purple from the deep muttered words that escape 

 through his exhaust. After a couple of hours' prac- 

 tice the beginner can cast his 30 or 40 feet with 

 less backlashes than can the old-timer at the game, 

 using the ordinary reel. If the beginner be a par- 

 ticularly careful man, backlashes will be almost en- 

 tirely eliminated. 



For moonlight fishing or any night fishing, the 

 antiback-lash reel holds the center of the stage. At 

 this game you cannot beat it, and as many of the 

 largest old bass are caught late in the evening or at 

 night, even the Old Timer should carry one tucked 

 away in his tackle box for this kind of work. I 

 know of nothing more conducive to the flow of cuss 

 words than to get a backlash on a dark night and 

 then try to disentangle it with the aid of a pocket 

 flashlight unless it be that you have a fine old bass 

 flopping aground in the water at the other end of 

 your line while you are working out the puzzle. 



There are two mighty good self-thumbers on the 

 market, the South Bend Antiback-lash and the Pflue- 

 ger-Redifor Antiback-lash. Both of these reels 



