1 2 REELS. 



but unfortunately not patented. It is now tolerably 

 common in most shops, the peculiarity being, that 

 the handle, consisting of a bone or ivory cone, is 

 fastened to the circular plate which turns the 

 cylinder, so that, should the line catch, it slips 

 readily off. I have in my possession the first 

 reel that ever was made upon this principle, and, 

 though rather wheezy, it is still a very useful im- 

 plement. One or two cogged wheels are essential 

 to the true working, and these create that glorious 

 "whirr" which strikes so gladly on the fisherman's 

 nerves when his fish is running out line. Irish 

 reels are generally attached to the rod by means 

 of a long spike, terminating in a screw that passes 

 through the butt, a button being screwed on to the 

 opposite side ; but the ordinary English mode of 

 sliding rings is, I think, preferable. Whichever 

 mode is adopted, the reel should be fixed with its 

 handle towards the fisherman's left hand. When a 

 fish is struck, the rod must be at once turned up- 

 wards, the line and the weight of the fish in con- 

 sequence resting upon the rod itself, instead of 

 upon the rings ; the handle will then, of course, be 

 in its proper place on the fisherman's right hand. 

 Rings, by the way, are rarely of sufficient size or 

 in sufficient number. Eighteen may with advan- 

 tage be attached to a salmon-rod, and the smallest 



