68 CASTING TACKLE AND METHODS 



is of peculiar shape. All in all, I consider it one of 

 the strangest creations ever produced for winding a 

 line or casting. However, it certainly will handle a 

 line in a manner to surprise the doubting Thomases, 

 but a man would need to be possessed of more than 

 a little courage to take the arrangement out in com- 

 pany on a bass-lake. Yet it may become popular. 



Another odd bass reel which came into my pos- 

 session a few years ago, was the "Kenward Special," 

 though there is nothing radically strange 'about it 

 save the arrangement for thumbing. It is somewhat 

 like the well-known single actions "Experts" 

 which are so popular with trout-fly-fishermen, only 

 much larger, being something like seven inches in 

 diameter, a single revolution of the spool retrieving 

 nearly two feet of line. The handle is simply two 

 knobs fastened directly to the reel-head. At the 

 base of the reel is a concave surface provided for the 

 thumb, the idea being to facilitate thumbing. 

 Though I tried out the reel somewhat at length I 

 never succeeded in getting the hang of it, the side 

 weight tipping the rod over in spite of my best 

 efforts. I have always been sorry that I let those 

 two reels get out of my collection and would be very 

 glad indeed to replace them. 



One sometimes sees listed, I never happened to 

 see them in actual use, reels built in the rod handle. 

 The innovation seems too great for the average 

 fisherman; though one can easily discover certain 



