72 THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 



Check is the term applied to the small ratchet wheels 

 which are supplied to nearly all winch reels, and are useful 

 to prevent the line running off too freely. It is from this 

 check that most anglers strike their fish ; the line should 

 be free from the hand at the same time. Check reels when 

 first procured from the tackle maker should be humoured so 

 as not to be too stiff nor too slack. This can be done by 

 taking off the cover of the reel, and either tightening or 

 slackening the small screw nail which confines the ratchet. 

 A check should have a soft sound when in use, not a sharp 

 hard sound. When laid away for the season, the wheels 

 and ratchet should be oiled with sperm oil to prevent rust. 



China Twist. This is manufactured in Japan, and is 

 simply a hard twisted silk line, clear and semi-transparent, 

 made from silk in its natural state. All raw silk is more or 

 less covered by a gummy secretion, but the Japanese silk 

 of which the above is composed is very thickly coated 

 with this natural gum, and when made up into lines gives 

 them the peculiar stiffness and clearness which is their 

 characteristic. 



Chub (Leuciscus cephalus). A fish of the same genus 

 as the roach, dace, minnow, &c. The body is oblong, 



THE CHUB. 



rather round, and the scales large. The colour is bluish 

 black on the upper part of the body, and silvery white on 



