58 CASTING TACKLE AND METHODS 



be born in the caster for that little wire; it thumbs 

 the reel as perfectly as could a past-master of the 

 art. I personally have tried out this reel under all 

 conditions of casting and have never found it 

 wanting. 



We now turn to a winch known to all bass enthu- 

 siasts, the pioneer in the field, I believe. The "Red- 

 ifor Self-thumbing Reel," is just what its name im- 

 plies, a self-thumber. A history of the development 

 of this reel would not fail to interest anglers, if we 

 could spare the space to give it, beginning as it does 

 with the story of the free-spool lost overboard some- 

 thing like thirty years ago, until the day when Fle- 

 gel's centrifugal thumbers were added and the reel 

 came to be the perfect winch it is to-day. 



This Flegel thumber is simple in the extreme, the 

 word "centrifugal" explaining adequately. A pair 

 of little flanges are attached to the outer surface 

 of the rear end of the spool, covered by the end- 

 plates, so invisible. The centrifugal force of the 

 spinning spool throws these flanges out against the 

 rim of the end-plate, governing the action, of the 

 spool absolutely and automatically. There you have 

 it, so simple that anyone might have thought it out, 

 but so simple that no one did. Aside from the 

 flanges, the reel is built on the lines of ordinary 

 quadruples. When one says that this is a beautiful, 

 serviceable and durable winch, he has by no means 

 said it all, for even superlatives would not be extrav- 



