CHAPTER II 

 THE CASTING REEL 



HISTORY 



In no single item of the bait-caster's outfit has 

 there been greater development than in the reel. It 

 is a long journey from the first single action winder 

 down through the years to the modern quadruple, 

 self-winding, self-thumbing, self-a-hundred-and-one- 

 other-things reel. 



Just where and when the fishing reel originated we 

 know not, but we find mention of it in "The Com- 

 plete Angler"; says Isaak Walton: u And to that 

 end, some use a wheel about the middle of the rod, 

 or near the hand; which is to be observed better by 

 seeing one of them, than by a large demonstration 

 of words." Presumably Walton had no personal 

 knowledge of the "wheel," otherwise he would have 

 been more explicit in his description. This first 

 winch was undoubtedly after the fashion of the 

 "Nottingham reel," still used in England, a large 

 disk of wood with a grooved outer edge to contain 

 the line ; simple and efficient for the work for which 



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