A Device for Controlling and Drowning a Fish after it has been Hooked.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd July, 1895-Accepted, 19th Oct., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Device for Controlling and Drowning a Fish after it has been
Hooked.
I, RICHARD ROWBOTTOM WORSLEY, 3, Avondale Terrace, John Street, Rhyl,
North Wales, of no occupation, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to means for controlling or "playing" a fish, after it has
been hooked.
The method at present practised by anglers where a large fish has been hooked
and when it is necessary to tire the fish before it can be landed, consists in
alternately allowing the fish line and reeling in, as the fish recedes from and
approaches the angler.
To obviate the necessity of paying out and reeling in line as above described,
I attach the line to an elastic inedium, which is adapted to be held in the angler's
hand and to gradually yield to the pull of the fish.
Such an appliance in its preferred form consists of a tablet or piece of leather or
other suitable material provided with means for securing the line thereto, and an
elastic holding piece preferably consisting of a large sized elastic band which is
held in the angler's hand.
In making an appliance under this invention, I take an oblong piece of leather
about of an inch thick, 2 inches long, and 14 inches wide. In one end of this
piece of leather 1 form a hole to receive the elastic band which forms the holding
piece. The other end of the leather is provided with means by which the line may
be fastened to it, which consist of a screwed metal eye, the shank of which passes
through the leather and into a small button or piece of leather preferably of similar
thickness to the tablet itself.
In the drawing hereto annexed is illustrated an appliance such as above described,
a being the tablet of leather; b the elastic band; c the metal eye, and d the button.
The fishing line is designated e.
The fishing line passes through the eye c and is secured by taking a turn with it
round the button d and back under the eye c, as shewn in the drawing.
The action of the appliance will be apparent upon reference to the drawing.
The line being attached to the tablet a and the elastic loop 6 held in the angler's
hand, as tension is put upon the line by the fish the elastic loop will yield to the
pull and put a gradual strain upon the fish. By this means the fish is kept under
control without any danger of the line giving way or the book being torn from the
fishes' mouth, and without paying out and reeling in line.
I have found that leather is the most suitable material of which to form the
tablet a, as it does not chafe the line and is strong, light, and durable, and I have
also found that an elastic band is the most serviceable as the handle b; but it will
be understood that other materials may be substituted for those above referred to
without departing from the scope of this invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The employment, as an adjunct to fishing tackle, of an elastic device adapted to
receive the strain put upon a fishing line by a fish, and consisting of a piece of

page_text: leather or other suitable material with provisions for attaching the line thereto and
an elastic holding piece preferably in the form of a loop, arranged and adapted to
operate substantially in the manner herein described.
Dated this 2nd day of July 1895.
RICHARD R. WORSLEY.