Hand Line Reel?

[murphypat16]

Hi everyone, I have a question that hopefully you can help me with. This is a picture of an old reel that belonged to my grandfather. I believe it’s called a hand line reel? I’ve been trying to figure just how these reels were used. He spent a lot of time fishing the Finger Lakes in New York for trout and salmon, so I’m wondering if it’s a deeper water thing. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Merry Christmas!
Pat

[wrong99]

Welcome. Could it be a line dryer? Others will know.
Mark

[oc1]

Hold the brown arm in your left hand and crank the red knob with your right hand. The cranking motion is more for winding up loose line than for pulling up a fish. That is done by pulling the line up hand over hand. If you crank the line instead of wrapping the line on the frame you do not put twist in the line.
-steve

[murphypat16]

That makes sense. Would this rig be used with spoons for trolling maybe? And what is the advantage of the copper line? Thanks for the help.

-Pat

[Robin Sayler]

Copper line was for trolling deep water without a down rigger.

[murphypat16]

OK, so the extra weight of the copper was enough to keep it deeper in the water?

[Midway Tommy D]

A little of that but mainly rigidity. Standard lines, i.e. dacron, nylon, mono, etc. have a tendency to float, i.e. belly. Lead core eliminates belly and sinks it faster while wire lines stay, while at a slight angle, pretty much straight. When trolling, a lot of that depends on speed.