CHAPTER V 

 PIKE REELS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS 



Ancient and modern reels Nottingham reels The centre-pin 

 The Mallock reel Slater's Combination reel The author's pike 

 reel The Coxon casting reel The Duplex reel Hardy's Silex 

 reel Cost of reels How to select a pike reel. 



A REEL, or winch as it was termed in former days, 

 is a most necessary part of a pike angler's outfit ; 

 this item appears to have been used only on a trolling rod 

 during the time of Col. Venables. This sportsman's book, 

 published about the year 1662, contains the following : 

 " The next way of angling is with a troll for the pike, 

 which is very delightful ; you may buy your troll ready 

 made, therefore I shall not trouble myself to describe it, 

 only let it have a winch to wind it up withal." 



In those far-away days, when trolling was in its infancy, 

 and when pike lines and tackle were only rough and crude 

 affairs, a reel was considered a necessary article. What 

 could be done without a reel nowadays, when lines and 

 everything else connected with that branch of sport have 

 been reduced to extra fineness, and the science of the 

 thing so very pronounced, I don't know. Anyhow, you 

 cannot very well fish for pike with a tight line, or the line 

 tied fast half-way down the rod like a Lea roacher ; you 

 must have a pretty fair length of line, and a reel to com- 

 fortably hold it. This being so, we will consider the ques- 

 tion of reels, and we find that they are made in a variety 

 of patterns, from different materials, and at nearly any 



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