PISHING TACKLE— WHAT TO SELECT 89 



There are so many varieties of reels, each having 

 numberless admirers, that to advocate any special 

 kind would provoke discussion at once. It may be 

 more to the point, iu consequence, to give a personal 

 preference and the reasons therefor. For all-round 

 satisfactory results an automatic or self-winding reel 

 is the best, and should be adopted in the beginning 

 and always used. To handle such a reel propei'ly, 

 practice is required, which can only be obtained by 

 constant use. With other than game fish, this reel 

 is not a necessity but a convenience, while with game 

 fish that fight hard, rushing hither and thither, it 

 will bring more safely to net than any other. The 

 secret of capturing fish is to avoid absolutely giving 

 them any slack line whatever. If they make a mad 

 rush, unwinding a large quantity of line, the drag 

 on an ordinary reel scarcely serves as a check. With 

 the automatic, however, the pulling out of line winds 

 a spring, which makes the tension a gradually increas- 

 ing one, thus quickly tiring and checking the fish. 

 The next rush may be directly toward the fisherman, 

 slack being given so rapidly that a crank reel, no 

 matter how much it multiplies, can not recover it fast 

 enough, the result being that if the fish again turns 

 and rushes away it will have enough slack line to 

 secure a good start, and to fetch up with a jerk that 

 will tear out the hook when the line again becomes 



