10 ANGLING IN SALT WATER. 



particularly if a stiff-dressed one, sometimes uncoils itself and 

 gets twisted round them. I have remedied this by fixing a 

 brass wire on the circumference, in the manner shown in Fig. 3. 

 If this fitting was more generally known, I believe no Notting- 

 ham winches would be made without it. The advantages of 

 the Nottingham reels are the ease with which they run, which 

 enables tackle of any kind to be cast out a long distance, 

 the line running off the reel as the tackle passes through 

 the air; the check of almost any degree of strength which 

 can be put on them, by pressing the little finger of the right 

 hand on the edge of the reel; and particularly the rapidity 

 with which they take up the line, owing to the large diameter 

 of the barrel on which the line is wound. One turn of a 

 Nottingham reel about equals two of an ordinary winch, so 

 that the advantage of a multiplier is gained without the intri- 

 cate mechanism, which is so objectionable. The reel shown in 

 Fig. 3 is a great favourite of mine, and I use it for most 

 purposes. It has a check which can be taken on or off; the 

 line cannot uncoil, by reason of the wire guard; and it is as 

 good as a multiplier. There are reels made, a combination of 

 the ordinary winch and the Nottingham reel. Some of them 

 are so made that there is no rim on which the little finger 

 can be placed as a check, but the " brake " reel and the Slater 

 reel are excellent. If more line has been bought than will go 

 easily on the reel, either cut some of it off, or buy a larger reel, 

 which will take all the line and ten yards more if necessary. 



Gaff-Hook and Landing Net. — Before coming to the 

 lower — ^but not inferior — tackle, that round and about the 

 bait, some reference should be made to gaff -hooks and land- 

 ing-nets, which, with rods, reels, and lines, constitute what I 

 may term the " standing rigging " of the angler. The gaff- 

 hook should be a reliable instrument. The ordinary thing 

 sold in tackle shops screws into a handle, and, this screw 

 becoming loose as soon as the socket rusts a little, the 

 arrangement is very unsatisfactory. Something better, and so 

 simple that it may have been invented by the father of all 

 fishermen, is a long, flat- shanked hook, with the end of shank 

 brought to a fine point, and turned outwards as shown in 



