54 



SALMON AND TROUT. 



FIG. I. 



MALLOCH'S CASTING REEL. 



the hand [or, as it would be in this case, from the reel] is prac- 

 tised. The principle is that when casting, the reel is twisted 



by the hand at right angles to the 

 rod, in the position shown in the 

 right-hand figure, when, in conse- 

 quence of the convex shape of the 

 right-hand plate, the line runs off it 

 without any revolution of the reel, 

 and with great freedom with such 

 freedom, in fact, that I believe the 

 patentee won a prize at the last 

 anglers' tournament in London by 

 making a cast with it of seventy 

 odd yards. In order to do this, 

 however, the line used must be 

 of the finest possible description, 



whether dressed or undressed ; the undressed, pure silk Not- 

 tingham line being the best. 



When it is intended to wind-in the line or fish, the reel is 

 turned with the right hand back again into the position shown 

 in the left-hand figure, when it acts like any other check reel. 

 Its particular applicability, however, is to what is known as the 

 Nottingham style of fishing, of which a more detailed account 

 will be found under that head in Volume II. The weight of 

 this reel one pound five ounces for a four-inch diameter is 

 so considerable as to be to that extent a drawback. There is 

 also another imperfection incidental to the principle of its 

 action ; vi/. that for every coil that is thrown off, when it is in the 

 position shown in the right-hand cut that is, without the axis 

 of the reel revolving a twist is given to the line cast : in other 

 words, in a cast, say, of forty yards, there would be, allowing 

 six inches of line to each coil, two hundred and forty abnormal 

 ' twists' imparted to the line between the reel and the bait ! 



Another ingenious invention, intended to be used both for 

 ' Nottingham ' and other kinds of fishing, is Mr. Slater's patent 

 'Perfect Combination Reel,' as he has called it (fig. 2), made 



