52 SEA-FISH. 
faith in it for mackerel-fishing from a boat; and 
he has often told me that, but for such a reel, he 
would have lost many a 
mackerel and _ pollack 
when, as often happens 
with those fish, they 
career wildly under the 
keel, and, making for 
the surface after the 
manner of sharks, get 
a slack on the line and 
shake the steel out. 
The “ Automatic” reel, 
when it will condescend 
to work, allows of no 
such pranks, as it keeps 
the line taut. But, as 
I said above, these 
Automatic WINCH. fancy reels are worse 
than useless in the 
hands of a man who does not understand their 
peculiarities. 
Having disposed of the rod and reel, I come to 
the question of the line, one of those matters 
of opinion on which it seems sheer im- 
possibility for any two writers to agree. 
Let me say at the outset that I have no very 
pronounced opinion on the subject, and that the 
durability of a sea-line lies, so far as I can make 
out, in its treatment rather than in its material. 
The actual quality of line will always be a matter of 
individual taste andextravagance. Highly dressed 
pike-lines, costing from I}d@. to 3¢. the yard, are 
very good for the work ; but you can catch just as 
Line 
