REELS, LINES AND BAITS 119 



on the handle side of the reel, and within the opposite 

 plates are placed the click and drag. Some casting 

 reels are made without the drag and in this connec- 

 tion it may be said that if the reel has a good strong 

 click, sufficient, say, to keep the line from out-run- 

 ning when trolling, the drag is unnecessary. But if 

 the click is not strong there will be many occasions 

 when a drag is needed. All working parts of the 

 reel should be of tempered steel, otherwise its life will 

 be correspondingly short. 



The quadruple reel is made for the purpose of 

 casting out a far line, and distinctly not for the pur- 

 pose of whirling in a fish. But the reel need not 

 necessarily be so finely constructed that it will run for 

 half an hour when the handle is given a start. In 

 fact, a reel of this sort is apt to be troublesome to the 

 angler, productive of backlashes. It follows that the 

 practical angler may dispense with jeweled bearings, 

 insisting only that the reel be well and strongly made, 

 sufficiently free-running, and with its working parts 

 of honest steel a tool for hard work and lots of it. 

 Jeweled bearings have, however, the virtue of making 

 the reel longer lasting, which is a consideration worth 

 taking into account. 



In the matter of reel material, while many reels 

 are made of hard rubber and German silver in com- 

 bination, almost all the good casting 

 reels are made of solid metal, princi- 

 pally of German silver, cheaper ones being furnished 



