JULY 107 



the reach, turn the boat, and, keeping the oars ready, 

 drop down steadily, stern first, watching every foot for 

 sporting fish. As soon as a good one is seen, note the 

 area he covers in his rises and then drop within twenty- 

 five yards, if able to cast so far. With the tackle 

 recommended at least twenty-five yards ought to be 

 easily covered throwing from a sitting position. This 

 point reached, check the boat slightly with the oars, 

 and, taking hold of the ring of the weight, lower it gently 

 into the water without shifting your position in the 

 least. As the rope tightens, again take the strain off 

 with the oars; this allows the w r eight to hold and pre- 

 vents any scaring of the fish from the boat dragging. 

 Put the sculls away, taking care that no noise is made 

 and that they do not interfere with the rod, landing 

 net, or bait tin, and that the ends are against the boat 

 so that the line may not tangle round them. Now lift 

 the rod, disengage the hook, bait with two brandlings by 

 threading the middle third of each, one on the shank 

 and another on the bend covering the point. Drop this 

 over the side and grip the line, below the ring next the 

 reel, firmly against the rod. This is preparatory to the 

 next step, which is that of pulling off and coiling down 

 the line at your feet. In order to give both hands full 

 play I always have, above the winch fitting, an umbrella 

 ring under which I pull a little loop of the line so that 

 one hand is not required to keep the float from running 

 away with the uncoiled line as it pulled off from the 

 reel. 



Why not keep the float in the boat ? Simply because 

 a leaded float and a large hook are the most magnificent 

 things for tangling up a coiled line. Before commencing 

 to pull off line, remove the check and brake the edge of 

 the reel with the finger to prevent overrunning when 

 pulling ; the removal of the check is to avoid scaring the 

 fish by the noise. Then why have a check at all? 

 Because the Nottingham reel muddles and overruns 

 if improperly used with a coiled-down line, especially 

 if such line is dressed. After pulling off the line it 

 should be re-coiled so that the top coil is next the lowest 



