294 



Rod and Tackle. 



CHAP. XX. 



have seen. But if you use a brake it is a necessity that your winch shall 



be firmly and reliably fixed in position. 



I have never tried the " Wedgefast," but it looks very thorough, and 



I see it recommended, and if you have such fittings on your rod I should 



think you could use my brake with safety. 



It is made of oxidized brass in two sizes. No. i, 

 for Trout rods. No. 2, for Salmon and Pike rods. 



A is a tapered socket into which one end of the 

 winch plate slides, the other end is placed in the socket 

 B, which is then moved into position by sliding along 

 the plate D D, and when adjusted is fixed and held in 

 position by a couple of turns of the screw nut C. The 

 nut C is so made that it cannot be removed, consequently 

 cannot be lost. To take off the winch, C is turned the 

 reverse way, B and C slide down towards the butt, and 

 the reel is instantaneously released. 



My own device is I think much simpler, and it is 

 attached to the winch, so that the winch is complete in 

 itself. It is a small heel, like the heel of a boot, at one 

 end of the heel-plate of the winch, which high heel falls 

 into a notch cut for it in the wood of the rod, and is 

 held down in it by the sliding ring. To cut this notch 

 correctly put the winch in position, pushing it home 

 under the fixed ring of the winch fittings, and then 

 marking with a scratch the place it comes to in the rod, 

 remove the winch, and on the butt side of the scratch 

 cut a notch to fit the projecting heel. You can do it 

 easily enough with a penknife, but if you love your rod 

 as you should you will cut it neatly with a small chisel, 

 so that the winch just fits in without any wobble, and just 

 allows the sliding ring to pass as usual when the winch is 

 in position. 



The projecting heel is not cast as a fixed part of the 

 winch, but can be unscrewed and reattached at either 



end of the heel-plate according to the fancy of the fisherman. It can 



be removed altogether and dispensed with, as it must be if the angler 



happens to have a .Wedgefast fitting already on his rod. 



But all this botheration comes of winch-makers making the heel 



