38 MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 



winches. The advantages thus gained are increased 

 speed and power ; speed, inasmuch as the diameter of 

 the axle on which the hne is wound is enlarged ; and 

 power, because the handle being further from the axle 

 a greater leverage is obtained. Whilst speaking of 

 handles, I would here most strongly recommend those 

 attached to the side-plate of the reel itself, without any 

 crank, as they obviate the constant catching of the 

 line which takes place with handles of the ordinary 

 shape. 



One serious drawback, and so far as my experience 

 goes, one only, is common to every reel hitherto made ; 

 namely, that the line is apt to get caught or hitched 

 under the posterior curve of the reel itself, thus involving 

 a constant trifling annoyance, and in the case of trolling 

 and Salmon fishing, a serious danger. To obviate it I 

 have had a small spring attached to the last of the lateral 

 girders, or supports, and so arranged that when the 



reel is in its place, the spring 

 presses closely on the wood or 

 fittings behind. This spring, 

 of which a diagram is annexed, 

 is very inexpensive, and can 

 be attached with ease to any 

 properly made reel, and I venture to think that no- 

 troller or fly-fisher who has once found the practical 

 convenience of such an antidote to *' hitching" will ever 

 use a reel without it. 



