The slot cut in the top of the box should be as long as the available winding-space on the axle, and protecting it at both sides are rollers cut from one-inch curtain-poles or broom-sticks. Steel-wire finishing-nails are driven in the end of each one, taking care to get the nail exactly in the middle.
Bend two L-pieces from stout sheet-iron, and having punched or drilled holes in the right place through the upright ear, make these bearings fast to the top of the box with screws as shown at D in Fig. 33. By turning the box slightly from side to side when winding in the string, the incoming line will travel from end to end of the slot so that the coil on the shaft will be equally thick from flange to flange.
A leather trunk-handle may be made fast to one end of the box for convenience in carrying.
This form of direct gearing with sprocket-wheels and chain makes it impossible for the cord-shaft to slip as it will do in the grooved wheel and string or leather-belt connections. It is simple and sure and quite as easy to pay out from as to wind in with.
Chapter IX
FISHING-TACKLE
Choice of Tackle
Every boy knows how to go a-fishing, but an intelligent boy is not long in learning that the mere getting of a lot of fish is a small part of the pleasure. That is why he prefers the rod to the seine, one big fish to many smaller ones, one cunning old trout or pickerel outwitted to a basket of stupid fish that contended for the bait. Presently he begins to desire more delicate tackle, and understands that he is fishing for sport, not fish. I take it that the whole art and mystery of angling is how to get the most sport and enjoyment out of it. But how?
To begin with, no one will destroy a fish which is not dangerous to man, nor will he fish just for amusement; in other words, he fishes only for desirable fish. The chief things that make a fish desirable, in the sense of a game or sport fish, are that it shall be good food, not too common and not too easily caught. If, besides, it be beautiful and found in beautiful places so much the better. It happens that by common consent certain fish—salmon and trout and their kindred—are in Europe and America esteemed above all others, and the opportunity to angle for them is not open to every one, and most boys must get their sport with other less-esteemed kinds. “Boys’ fish” they are sometimes slightingly called, but they have lots of sport to give to the boy who knows how to get it, and he will get more sport if he takes pains to make the fish better worth catching and better worth having after it is caught. It is better worth having, for instance, if you have caught it from the cleanest water you have access to. Clean water makes sweet fish. If a fish is to be kept kill it at once by a blow upon the back of the head where the backbone joins it. This is not only more merciful but makes firmer meat. If one is fishing from a boat or not moving about much the fish may be kept alive in a floating live-box or basket, and at the end of the fishing the best may be chosen for keeping and the rest let go. Fish are sweeter, too, if cleaned as soon as possible; besides, the cleaning is done more easily if done early. Learn to do it well yourself, and try to be at home in time to do it before supper. Cleaning fish by candle-light goes far to spoil the sport of a pleasant day. Do not clean fish with your pocket-knife. Have in your kit a stout one for the purpose which will also cut bait. Such knives made expressly are sold for a small sum, but a veteran kitchen-knife or a broken table-knife if kept in order will do excellent service.
Do not throw your fish in the dirt nor let them lie in the sun nor string them upon a twig or line if you wish them to be sweet. Have a basket with a cover, even if the cover be no more than a newspaper. Wash this basket and dry and air it in the sunshine if you can after every using. All these things you should do if you wish what you catch to be as good as it can be.
Now, how are you to increase the sport of the catching? Of course you want the largest fish and these are usually the oldest and the most wary. This wariness you do not expect to change, but you hope to defeat it. Study the habits of the fish, where and when and upon what it feeds or what it seeks. Let your fishing be governed by your discoveries. And while you are offering him what he wants and when and where he wants it, remember these old fellows are fussy about their table-service. They do not feel hungry if a boy throws his shadow across their table, or shakes it by rushing up to it. Stalk your fish, then, as quietly as you are able, and if you have alarmed it in any way stay out of sight and remain as quiet as possible for a long time until your clumsiness is forgotten, and then let your lure, whether bait or fly, drift into the fish’s sight as if you had nothing to do with it. And remember that the finer your tackle the more likely this pretence will be to succeed.