230 COARSE FISH. 



away with nearly all awkwardness, and, with a little 

 further practice, the left hand will wind as fast as the 

 right. As an illustration of this, I may say I have killed 

 all my Thames trout by winding with the left hand, and 

 a quicker fish does not swim. For manipulating the 

 winch in chub-fishing, the left-hand system of winding 

 is invaluable ; indeed, all fish are struck and in play 

 instantly, but the chief benefit is that the rod is managed 

 by the . right hand without change, and that the fish is 

 played on the rod, and not by, to a great extent, the 

 touch on the winch. I am speaking from experience, 

 having tried both ways ; and I think the method only wants 

 suggesting for many anglers to try it, and, after trying, 

 follow it. Let the fly-fisher for trout try it, using a winch 

 with a large barrel, and he will soon find the advantage. 



This is such a stumbling-block to many anglers that I 



think a few words on the subject may be accept- 



Throw- able. Many anglers seem quite afraid of it, 



'"^the°™ ^"^ ^^'^ ""^ ^"s™?*^ "'"'^^^ ^^'^^7 *i"k to be so 



winch difficult. It is, like all other things pertaining to 



or reel casting, simply a question of a little patience 



and practice. For successful angling, there is 



nothing to equal it ; it is useful for all the varied systems 



of coarse fishing, particularly in spinning, livebaiting, 



and float-fishing in far-off swims. 



Like other actions, difficult at first, ease comes with 

 practice, helped at first by a little teaching. A service- 

 able Nottingham winch can nowadays be bought for very 

 little money ; for very long and fancy throwing, an ex- 

 pensive winch, costing perhaps twenty-five or thirty 

 shillings, or even more, is advisable. But, in my opinion, 

 fish are caught more by carefully made casts and proper 

 working of the bait than by mere long throwing. It is true 

 that reaching a certain spot a great distance away fre- 

 quently means getting a fish, if not several ; but by using 

 a fast-running winch, the dangerous habit of coiling line 

 on the bank or in the hand is entirely done away with. 



With a properly made throw, the line is always in a fit 

 state for use ; there is no slack line, and no bits of stick, 

 rushes, &c., are entangled anywhere ; you can throw and 

 fish while standing up to the waist in rushes, being thus 

 enabled to reach many most favourable spots which 



