VARIO US KINDS OF REELS. 2 1 



hand barrel was smooth, the left rifled. This was my first 

 experience of such a weapon, and most probably will be my 

 last. The game was found, the cover was close, and snap 

 shooting necessary. It was of no use. The gun would 

 not come up, or the game come down. The fact was, that 

 the shot barrel was only half the weight of the rifled, conse- 

 quently the whole fabric was without balance, and do what 

 I would my aim was invariably disconcerted. 



Of the joints used in fly- rods the plain sliding one is 

 probably the most convenient. If properly fitted it should 

 never jam or work loose ; but if I lived on a river I should 

 never make use of any other than the simple splice, for the 

 lashing aifects less the action of the spring; and if a few 

 additional moments are lost in putting it together, the re- 

 turn is ample recompense. But I fear the age is too fast 

 for its adoption. 



Having given my opinions of what a rod should be, I 

 will now go to the reel. Of late years, at least since I was 

 a boy, all kinds of mechanical inventions and appliances 

 have been used to produce a more perfect reel: and there 

 are now to be obtained stop reels, multiplying reels, and 

 reels with as many internal cog and other wheels as would 

 start a clock-maker. Of these complicated apparatuses be- 

 ware, for they are fraught with disappointment and vexa- 

 tion of spirit ; the old simple click reel is the only one that 

 deserves the honor of being attached to a fly-rod. Still, too 

 much care and attention can not be devoted to their con- 

 struction. Every screw and joint should be as perfectly 

 finished as those of a gun from a first-class manufacturer. 

 The barrel of the reel should be wide in proportion to its 

 length, for you thus gain power or give line with greater 

 freedom ; nothing is more unsightly or more awkward than 

 a long, narrow - barreled reel. Brass is the metal usually 

 employed for their construction, but the newly - invented 



