REELS, LINES AND BAITS 121 



any skill on the part of the caster unnecessary. Re- 

 putedly they do what is claimed for them; personally 

 I have never used one. It seems to me that there 

 would not be much sport in using a self-aiming rifle 

 or an auto-striking trout fly, and that there would be 

 very little more enjoyment in using a self -thumbing 

 reel. Mechanical advancement in the manufacture of 

 rifles, reels and the like, is a praiseworthy thing un- 

 til it reaches a point where skill on the part of the 

 user is partially or wholly eliminated. When a sport- 

 ing tool reaches this stage of " advancement " it ceases 

 to be desirable. 



The position of the multiplying reel on the casting 

 rod is properly on top of the rod with the handle to 

 the right for the right-handed caster. 



If you go into the literature of casting ^ e . , e 

 i_ MI r i i Position, 



for bass to any extent you will find that 



another method, with the reel underneath the rod 

 that is, turned underneath when reeling in is stren- 

 uously advocated by certain writers. Have the reel on 

 top, handle to the right, and keep it there both when 

 casting and retrieving. This is the advice and prac- 

 tice of experienced bait-casters almost to a man. The 

 reel, when placed in this way, is far easier to keep 

 under constant control either when thumbing the out- 

 running line or spooling the line when reeling in. 



As regards the amount to pay for a bait-casting reel 

 you can go pretty nearly as far as you like. Sixty 

 dollars is about the top price for a stock quadruple- 



