Salt water fishing reels lecture from the past:
"The call of the surf"
by Peilner Van Campen and Frank Stick, 1920
THE REEL
This is the most important part of the equip-
ment. A man can tie a free-running reel upon a
length of bamboo, fit it with line guides and a tip,
and catch his share of fish. He will not cast as
far as his neighbour who swings a Seger rod, nor
will he get as much pleasure from his fishing, but
the outfit may answer for the time being.
The cost of the reel will vary anywhere between
eight dollars and eighty, but whatever the price, it
should be equipped with the free spool feature with
a lever throw off or release. Because of the corrod-
ing action of salt water, German silver and rubber
construction is preferable.
For general surf fishing the 2-0 size, which holds
in the neighbourhood of three hundred yards of nine-thread line,
is the most popular, and is large enough for anything
up to channel bass or stripers.
Those who like to give a shark a run for his money prefer the
3-0. For approximately thirty dollars may be purchased
a standard article from either the Vom Hofe or Meisselbach factories, which will do as good work as the most expensive models, and which
will last as long or longer than those reels which are equipped with elaborate mechanism.
Personally, I am not interested in all those intricate folde-rolls which are being built into reels of late. A simple free spool arrangement, with click, and possibly a plain drag, is all that is required in surf fishing. Either a thumb stall or a leather apron which may be attached to any reel at a cost of
fifty cents will give all the resistance that the line can stand, and is always under the control of the fisherman. Too great dependence upon mechanical devices has a tendency to take the romance out of any sport.
I know that I get more pleasure in the feel of the spool revolving beneath my thumb stall or apron« when a good fish hunts deep water, than I do when fumbling for the left- or right-hand rim drag, or the drag pilot, as the case may be.
The strain on the reel while casting and when playng a good fish is tremendous, and the happy combination of perfect adjustment and strength is attained only through the use of the best materials ' by expert workmen.
A loosened screw may cause the reel to disgorge its entire interior
mechanism, or may stop the handle dead, which in either case would mean disaster if one were playing a large fish. It is advisable, then, not only to purchase a dependable reel in the first place, but also to give it the same attention and care that would be given to any other piece of fine mechanism. Frequent oiling is necessary, and it should be taken apart several times each season and cleaned with gasoline. If by any mischance
the reel is allowed to drop on the sand it should be cleaned at once. A certain amount of sand is bound to work into the cog wheels and oil caps, and every time I take my reels apart, and consider the thousands of revolutions the spool has made, and the adverse conditions under which it has laboured, I marvel that its mechanism is not entirely disorganized.
The solid reel seat, which is now used on all the better class of reels, is a desirable feature, as it places a solid metal base at the point of greatest strain. This innovation has done more to lengthen the life of the reel than any invention of recent years.
While any free-running, multiplying reel can be used in surff fishing, without the free spool device it is impossible to get any distance into one's cast, and the constant wear of the rapidly revolving handle will harm the action of this part of the equipment to a great degree.
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