SPINNING WITH A SALMON REEL 369 



THE AUTOMATIC STARTING MECHANISM OF THE DRUM OF 

 SPINNING REELS 



Automatic mechanism for starting the rotatory action of 

 the drum of a spinning reel, in order to lessen the retardation 

 of the lure caused by the inertia of the drum, should increase 

 the distance to which the lure may be cast, but such 

 mechanism will render the reel more complicated, and its 

 management more difficult to acquire. The angles at which 

 the drum is automatically started, i.e., the moment when 

 the line and lure are released from the check of the drum, 

 will differ from the angle at which the drum is released 

 when using an ordinary Nottingham spinning reel, and the 

 automatic starting apparatus will have to be regulated from 

 time to time in sympathy with the weight of the lure and the 

 velocity imparted to it by the radial action of the rod point. 



If for instance the automatic starting gear were regulated 

 for casting a two ounce lure from a twelve foot spinning rod, 

 it would, unless altered, give the drum of the reel a rotatory 

 velocity greater than that required to supply the line which 

 a half ounce weight cast from a nine foot rod requires, and 

 consequently unless regulated, the drum would over-run the 

 line with the lighter lure. 



If the lure is a very light one, and the line to which it is 

 attached is wound up on a revolving drum, a good method 

 of releasing the line is that in which the spool acts as does the 

 drum of the Illingworth, or Malloch's reel. 



The lighter the lure, the greater the difficulty in over- 

 coming the inertia of the drum, and the greater must be the 

 trajectory of the flight to its destination ; and vice versa. 



The greater the weight of the lure, the greater the distance 

 it should attain, and the attempt to apply automatic methods 

 of overcoming the inertia of the drum at the moment the 

 line is released in the act of spinning, is only made to bring 

 the usefulness of the ordinary spinning reel into line with 



