A stick, a bottle, or any other small, round, thin, lightweight, or portable object upon which line can be wrapped and stored makes a simple, efficient fishing reel.

This fact was driven home to me while on a Colombian angling expedition several years ago when the late Dan Klepper made a bet with a 12-year-old kid who had gained local fame as a prolific catcher of fish.

It was a simple wager: Klepper, then the outdoors editor of the San Antonio Light, was to use his sophisticated tackle and lures, while the youngster, Manuel Salvador Agame, would throw a hand-line rig consisting of about 35 yards of 50-pound test monofilament line wrapped onto a Coke bottle and a No. 4 Mepps spinner that was given to him by a departing angler from the United States. They were to go head-to-head for 60 minutes with the one catching the most fish in that time being declared the winner.

If the kid beat Klepper, he could then pick out and keep any lure in the Texan's tackle box. I forgot what the payoff was to be had Klepper emerged victorious.

In one corner you have a veteran angler with the latest in equipment and more than 40 years of experience gleaned from fishing prime waters throughout the world. In the other corner, facing seemingly insurmountable odds, is a small native boy who had never seen an automobile, a doctor, or a washing machine.

The site for this epic mismatch was where the Rio Caribona flowed into the large seven-mile-long Lago LaMaya. Anchored out in the river's main current, little Manuel stationed himself at the bow of a 15-foot aluminum johnboat while Klepper operated from the stern while casting a small, silver spoon with a sleek, new spinning outfit.

Manuel spun his Mepps in a fast, circular, overhead motion and sent the tiny lure 50 feet where it made hardly a ripple when entering the water. He let it sink to the bottom, took in slack, and gave the line a couple of short, snappy jerks.

Bingo! He hooked a catfish on his first toss and brought it to the boat. By actual count the lad then proceeded to land four more fish in his next seven casts while the Texan had yet to feel his first bump.

"Damn smart-alec kid," Klepper was heard to mumble as he went into his tackle box for a change of lures. He switched to a Little George and later to a tiny white jig as Manuel had increased his lead to 10-0.

When the margin widened to 15-zip, Klepper opened his tackle box and asked Manuel's advice on what he should use. With so many bright, colorful lures on display, the little guy's eyes lit up as ours would when viewing the crown jewels. Manuel selected a Mepps spinner--similar to his own--and handed it to the American expert.

While the lure was probably correct, Klepper's technique wasn't and the score ballooned to 20-0. He tried to match the youngster's short, jerking type of retrieve with his spinning rig, but came up empty each time. Two fish later, and with the tally showing 22-0, Klepper turned to his guide and, in Spanish, said "Let's go back to camp. There're no fish here!" The total elapsed time was exactly 45 minutes.

Back on shore, Klepper again opened his tackle box and told Manuel that he could select one lure for himself. After giving the contents careful consideration, the grinning youngster reached in and pulled out a No. 4 Mepps Black Fury.

Historical Perspective

Historical references to such primitive "reels" are nonexistent. It's likely that fishermen in ancient times had devised some sort of line storage mechanism but, if so, such accounts are lost in antiquity.

In America nothing is known about the "reels" used by early settlers. Chances are that even if a reel was used for fishing, it probably came from England or was a copy of the wooden Nottingham fly reel used by British aristocracy for trout and salmon fishing.

In his book, A History of Angling, Charles Waterman said Americans first made their mark in fishing tackle during the early 1800s with the development of the precision Kentucky reel that primarily was used to catch black bass.

Waterman's research indicated that watchmaker George Snyder of Paris, Kentucky, made the first Kentucky reel--a quadruple multiplying model--some time being 1800 and 1810 for use by himself and friends.

Another watchmaker, Jonathan Meek, began producing fishing reels commercially in the early 1830s which were made of brass with square steel gears. Nickel and German silver appeared after the Civil War.

According to Waterman, the purpose of the quadruple multiplier was for ease in casting. "The spool had leverage against the handle and thus turned easier," he said.

Jeweled bearings later contributed to smoother reel operation and, since these reels were mostly used to cast minnows, the term baitcasting was born which, said Waterman, has "plagued and confused artificial lure throwers to this day."

By 1905, aluminum spools were available in Meek-made reels which helped reduce the weight. Anti-backlash devices started replacing the "educated" thumb in the 1920s with South Bend's level-wind reels.

Tarpon fishing pioneer Edward Vom Hofe was one of the earlier developers of heavy- duty saltwater reels and is credited with being the inventor of the star drag in the late 1800s, an innovation that replaced the leather thumb brake.

Although the basics of all drag systems have remained virtually unchanged for nearly a century, vast improvements in materials and lubrication have taken place, bringing the evolution to a state-of-the-art refinement.

One of the biggest took place shortly after World War II when the spinning reel was introduced. As Waterman pointed out, the spinning concept had been around for some 60 years previously when Peter Malloch of Scotland made an early reel from which line was cast from a stationary spool, not unlike that used by the Colombian kid with his Coke bottle.

"At first the spinning outfit was cursed for its inaccuracy, but when casters learned to feather the line as it came off the open spool they came very near to what baitcasters could do," emphasized Waterman.

"It was difficult to design the push-button reel so that a cast could be slowed gradually but that came eventually and accuracy improved. The closed-face reel, however, is basically a tool used for shorter ranges."

Early spinning reels disappointed many because they were manufactured to be sold cheaply. It wasn't unusual for spinning outfits of the 1950s to break down in a matter of days or, for that matter, during a single battle with a big fish.

Mitchell probably did more to introduce a superior instrument to the marketplace in the fifties and, since then, Daiwa, Abu Garcia, Johnson (JWA), Penn, Shakespeare, Shimano, South Bend, and Zebco have all made important contributions in the creation of a quality product, both in open-face and closed-face spinning.

Fundamentally, there are three types of reels: fly, spin, and baitcasting.

Fly Reels

Originally designed as little more than a large spool with a handle on which to store line, fly reels have progressed to such a lofty state whereby most now have clickers, some have sophisticated drag systems, and, depending upon size, are built to duel most anything from a puny brook trout to a mighty blue marlin.

There are a few anglers around who swear by automatic fly reels in which a touch of a lever will retrieve fly line rapidly and automatically onto the spool. Some of us tend to swear at them, however. My experience with automatic fly reels has been somewhat less than amiable because I always manage to touch the auto lever or trigger at exactly the wrong time and literally rip my popping bug from the mouth of bass and bream.

Several firms produce fly reels. Among the key manufacturers are Orvis, Scientific Anglers, Abel, Billy Pate, Peerless, Lamson, and others.

It's important that beginner fly casters not purchase a small reel designed for bluegills and expect it to slow down a tarpon or snook. Conversely, nobody should expect a Billy Pate offshore reel to perform well with bedding shellcrackers.

Baitcasting Reels

As Waterman pointed out earlier, the term "baitcasting reel" is actually a misnomer. More accurate descriptions would be level wind, revolving spool, or free spool.

Although many anglers picture a bass fisherman when thinking of a conventional "baitcaster," keep in mind that offshore trolling reels are built on an identical principle of line peeling off or being retrieved onto a revolving spool.

Certainly, it would be difficult to cast out a bait or lure from one of those big Penn Internationals employed by blue marlin aficionados, but the basics between a trolling and a casting reel are similar. Smaller revolving spool reels are used in either fresh or saltwater situations with equal success. However, larger reels, such as models manufactured by Penn, Miya Epoch, and Daiwa, are used almost exclusively in saltwater.

One of the most popular baitcasters ever to hit the market was Abu Garcia Ambassadeur, still affectionately called "The Red Reel."

Introduced in 1953, the first Ambassadeur 5000 was initially designed to handle salmon on Sweden's Morrum River where fish to 80 pounds are not uncommon.

It was the first free spool level-wind unit with a centrifugal brake weight system with a steel main gear and a brass pinion gear that assured smooth operation while battling a big fish.

In 1962, Abu Garcia incorporated a multi-disc drag system that provided anglers with a smoother, more precise tension control system. The introduction of brass bearings two years later helped increase the life of vital reel components, and, in 1973, new high-speed gears enabled anglers to work high-speed baits with a steady retrieve, eliminating the need to "race" the reel handle to get proper lure action.

Today's Abu Garcia reels cast significantly farther and work a wider range of lures due to an advanced spool mechanism developed by the firm's engineers in 1982. Abu Garcia was sold to another tackle industry giant, Berkley, in 1995. It's assumed that more innovative and technological improvements will soon appear on the horizon.

Others making a full range of fresh and saltwater revolving spool reels include Daiwa, Shimano, Johnson, Wright & McGill, Silstar, and Penn.

The American-made Penn reels are a success story that began in 1932 on the third floor of an old Philadelphia factory when a young German immigrant, Otto Henze, with a mind for engineering decided to build a better fishing reel which, today, is recognized as the Rolls Royce of the tackle industry.

Through the 1930s and '40s there emerged an incredible array of masterpieces including the Penn Senator, Penn Squidder, Penn Surfmaster, Penn Long Beach, Penn Level Wind, and more.

Otto's designs, which included Penn's legendary star drag reels, were so advanced, durable, and practical that, even today, many models remain among the biggest selling and must trusted.

In the mid-1960s, Penn launched a new era in tackle technology with the introduction of the International lever-drag big-game saltwater reels. During the past decade, Penn's advanced injection molding technology was responsible for a new generation of one-piece, high-strength, graphite-frame fishing reels combining its lever drag system with lightweight frames resulting in a powerful new breed of saltwater reels.

In the old days, level wind casting reels--often called winches--were used for heavier lures or baits. As a result of numerous refinements, many of these marvels now have the capacity to toss quarter ounce lures or jigs with the same ease and accuracy of a spinning reel.

Spinning Reels

Spin fishing tackle vaulted into prominence after World War II, offering angling newcomers a system that could be mastered in minutes, and experienced fishermen a tool to cast smaller, lighter lures.

Closed-face or push-button models, pioneered by Bill Carter at Zebco (spincasting), and quality open-faced reels developed by Mitchell (spinning), probably accounted for more converts to fishing in a shorter period of time than any other tackle innovation in history.

Unlike baitcasting and fly reels that operate with revolving spools, closed and open-faced spinning reels have a stationary or fixed spool that does not turn on either the cast or retrieve. Nor does it rotate unless a fish takes line against a drag. Instead, line comes off of the spool in loose coils as a bait or lure is cast.

Since the spool does not turn, line is placed back onto the spool during the retrieve with a bail, roller, or rotor. The bail is a wire hoop which, when open, allows the rodman to cast. When the bail is closed, line can run over a roller and back onto the spool.

The rotor assembly and the bail it holds rotate around the spool, thus retrieving line. To prevent line from building up on one part of the spool, the spool oscillates in and out causing line to be put back onto the spool in a front to back, back to front pattern.

When casting, the spring-loaded bail is flipped open with the caster's index finger holding the line. The finger releases the line as the rod comes forward in the casting motion.

With a closed-face reel, the line plays out during the cast after the thumb button or lever is released.

Chances are that most people seen on the water today began their angling "life" with a spincast or push-button reel developed by Zebco.

It's interesting to note that the original idea for the world's first spincast reel came at a grocery store meat counter instead of on the water or at an engineer's drawing board. R. D. Hull, a west Texas watchmaker, became frustrated with the overruns or backlashes he got with his baitcasters. It so bothered him that he would take his younger brother Otto to farm ponds and have him walk around the pond and throw R.D.'s lure into the water whereupon he'd reel it in.

With this technique, R. D. didn't get any backlashes. He didn't get many casts either.

It was about this time in the 1940s that Hull walked into a grocery store and watched a clerk wrap a meat package--pulling the wrapping string off the end of a large spool, a spool that didn't move--a fixed spool if you will.

That's when a light bulb went off in his head, giving R. D. the idea for the world's first spincast reel, the first model of which resembled a beer can with a hole in both ends. By 1958, Hull's invention had evolved into the Zebco 33 and, since that time, 22 million have been sold.

It was Bill Carter, a tackle rep from Dallas, who showed the world that a closed-face spincast reel could be used with precision by frequently winning accuracy contests when pitted against experts using baitcasting and open-faced spinning reels.

Later, Bruce Brubaker set an all-time accuracy record in the American Casting Association's National Championships when he fired a 99 out of 100 score in the closed-face division, a mark that has yet to be beaten.

More than half of the professional tournament competitors on the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) circuit started with a Zebco, and many still use one in certain fishing situations.

Carter, by the way, once taught a chimpanzee to cast the Zebco 33, showing the world that "this reel is so simple to use even a monkey can do it."

Mitchell probably set the standard for quality open-faced spinning reels a half century ago with its 300 model and dominated the market. Many still use a Mitchell, although today several other major companies have entered the open-faced sweepstakes.

As anglers become well rounded, chances are they'll learn to use all three basic reels--fly, baitcasting, and spinning--because methods and types of fishing vary and one reel won't always match conditions.