THE ROD IN SALT WATER 393 



do not expect more of it than it is prepared to give, and 

 do not use it as a boathook, to punt with, or to push 

 off from the pier. 



Much the same advice applies to the line. Use it 

 as fine as is compatible with saving the fish. It is 

 wonderful how fine a line will save a big fish if properly 

 used. 



The link between rod and line is the reel, and a 

 reel may cost anything from five shillings to as many 

 pounds. Indeed, I have given nine pounds for an 

 American sea reel before now ; but you have to pay on 

 the grand scale for everything in America. A good, 

 useful reel for sea-fishing, of the so-called Nottingham 

 pattern, with optional check action, may be had for a 

 sovereign in wood or about twice as much in vulcanite. 

 The latter material has the advantage of lightness; nor 

 does it, like wood, swell after immersion in salt water. 

 On the other hand, it is brittle stuff and apt to smash 

 if dropped on a hard surface. The check, or, as Ameri- 

 cans call it, " click " action is designed to put a greater 

 strain on the fish. The same effect may be obtained 

 with a silent brake, which takes longer to wear out ; but 

 many fishermen love the sound of the check, and will 

 have it on the reel at all costs. All the same the angler 

 with no soul for any music but the scream of a winch 

 is a poor creature. The great thing about the sea reel 

 is that it shall carry plenty of line. Here is no question 

 of thirty or forty yards of fine line for brook trout, but 

 a good hundred or hundred and fifty yards to hold 



