2 ANGLING. 



and when it does can easily be repaired ; and, thirdly, be- 

 cause it can be adapted to an ordinary plain brass reel at 

 little rost. It is simply a plate of thin spring, a little less 

 than the diameter of the reel, made slightly convex, and 

 slit in hulf-a-dozen places to about one-third of its 

 diameter. This plate is placed between the reel-drum 

 and the supporting-plate. The best reels are those in 

 which the handle is fixed in the side-plate of the reel- 

 drum, as by this contrivance the ug]y and tormenting crank 

 may be dispensed with. The " Nottingham reel" is a 

 simple pillar-reel, of great freedom of working, too free 

 in fact, and perhaps the most perfect reel is one made by 

 Mr Ryder, of 48 Ellis Street, Birmingham. It is formed of 

 composition, which stands wet and hard usage remarkably 

 well. The veriest tyro need scarcely be told that the use 

 of the reel is to hold the running tackle for the purpose of 

 playing a fish. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE LINE, TACKLE, AND EQUIPMENT OF AN ANGLER. 



IMPORTANT and useful as a well-balanced and carefully- 

 constructed rod is to the angler, he is more dependent on 

 his line and hooks for success than on the staff to which 

 they are attached. His rod may be rough, ill-fashioned, 

 a mere switch, or a washerwoman's line-prop, and yet 

 not prove fatal to his sport ; but an ill-conditioned line, or 

 a badly-tempered hook will spoil all. Even the beautifully- 

 finished, tapering, silver-mounted rod will not compensate 

 for defective gut or a brittle hook. The skilful cast, the 



