TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 61 



made when desired into a ' check.' The old-fashioned ' plain 

 reel,' as it is called, possessed certainly the merit of being plain 

 and, to a certain extent, simple, in the sense of not being 

 likely to get out of order ; and there its merits end. When 

 there is no check to interfere with the rapid rotatory motion of 

 the wheel set going by a heavy fish, there is nothing in the 

 mechanism to prevent the line what is called ' overrunning,' the 

 result of which is a constant danger of a sudden ' hitch,' or 

 stoppage, occurring at the critical moment. 



Multiplying reels, at any rate of the ordinary type, are, 

 in my opinion, equally objectionable upon another ground, 

 namely, that, when it is desired to 'wind-in' a fish, the old 

 mechanical axiom of ' that which is gained in speed is lost in 

 power ' is apt to come into operation with disastrous results. 

 No man can fairly wind-in a heavy fish with such a reel, and 

 now that reels with narrow and deep, instead of broad and 

 shallow, grooves are almost universally manufactured, there is 

 no practical advantage gained by the rapidity of action in this 

 respect. 



In all the reels, however, even of the newest patterns, 

 there are two slight imperfections which somewhat mar the 

 regular winding-in of the line. The first is that the axle is, 1 

 may say universally, made with a small projecting shoulder, 

 which though pretty to the eye as a ' finish,' causes the coils 

 after the first few turns to wind irregularly. The same result 

 is produced by the knot necessary to be tied in the line to 

 fasten it to the reel, and which usually sticks out right in the 

 middle. To remedy these two slight defects, which were 

 pointed out to me by a practical amateur reel-maker, whose 

 name I do not know, all that is necessary is to abolish the 

 ' shoulder projection ' referred to, and to bore one side of the 

 'line hole' in the axle sufficiently capacious to countersink 

 the knot. 



A third imperfection, I may here remark, is the unprotected 

 circumference or posterior curve of the ordinary reels. This 

 leads to the frequent catching or hitching of the line where by 



