68 



SALMON AND TROUT, 



seems to me to comprise theoretically all the points of a 

 perfect trout reel, and I find in practice its performance is 

 equal to its promise, its great diameter enabling a fish that 

 ' runs in ' to be wound up so fast that the evils of a 

 ' slack line ' need seldom be felt. Besides lightness, the per- 

 foration of the side plates, allowing the air to get to the line, 

 are intended to prevent the latter rotting if left damp, and I 

 must say that though the line has been — day after day, and in 

 fact since I began to use it some months ago— left wet, it does 

 not seem so far to have suffered any deterioration whatever in 

 consequence. The only imperfection in the reel was that 

 owing to the old-fashioned ' crank ' form of handle the line not 

 unfrequently got hitched round it, and to remedy this I have 

 had a handle fitted to mine, as shown in the engraving, whicb 



effectually overcomes the 'hitching' tendency, whilst at the 

 same time increasing the leverage. The double handle is also 

 of considerable advantage in real work, as the handle is more 

 rapidly found, and consequently less time is lost in winding in 

 — this is an advantage possessed by the Slater reel also ; and it 

 has saved me many a fish, more especially in boat work, when 



