REELS. 69 



difficulty in selecting a reel suited to his taste, observing again 

 that the question of weight is one demanding most serious 

 consideration, especially on the part of fly-fishers who are not 

 burdened with superfluous muscular development. If the 

 lower (untapered) portion of the reel-line otherwise the ' back 

 line ' which is not used in casting, and which undergoes 

 comparatively little wear and tear, is made to consist of either 



MK. ASHLEY-DODD'S REEL-PROTECTOR. 



fine undressed silk or (better) hemp, the total weight may 

 be sensibly reduced without loss either of efficiency or 

 ' compass.' 



Allowing, say, forty yards either of the ordinary taper, or 

 double taper, as already described, for casting purposes, sixty 

 or seventy yards of hemp line strong enough to hold any- 

 thing that swims can be got comfortably upon a three and 

 three-quarter or four-inch reel (according to the width of the 

 barrel), and this length will usually be found sufficient for all 

 ordinary purposes. 1 In ' big rivers,' however, as the editor 

 truly observed in the footnote, this length may be advan- 

 tageously increased to 120 or even 150 yards, in which case 

 the size of the reel will, of course, have to be increased also. 

 On to a four-inch reel of my pattern I can get 100 yards of 

 back line, consisting of fine, solid-plaited, superficially dressed, 



1 I like 130 to 150 yards on the reel for salmon fishing 75 yards of each sort 

 of line. In big rivers I have had a good deal of the second half run out by a 

 heavy fish. The having two kinds of line indicates, when the second begins 

 running, at what distance the fish is from you, which in very broken water is 

 sometimes difficult to ascertain. BEAUFORT. 



