1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fishing reels, fishing information display devices, and fishing information display systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a fishing reel storing first information on the reel internally, as well as a fishing information display device and a fishing information display system for displaying the first information and second information.
2. Background Information
A fishing reel is generally furnished with a reel body; a spool mounted to the reel body; a handle for rotating the spool; a counter case mounted above the reel body; and a display device provided on the upper surface of the counter case and including a display unit for displaying water depth. The display unit is, for example, a liquid crystal display and is capable of displaying first information concerning the reel, such as fish zone and current water depth of terminal tackle.
A fishing boat is generally equipped with an information collecting device, such as a fish finder and a global positioning system (GPS), that is adapted for collecting second information concerning fishing. The information collecting device of this kind is provided with a display unit adapted for displaying the second information, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2002-142623. The information collecting device of this kind is often disposed at a location distant from the angler. For this reason, the information displayed on the display unit, which relates to fishing, is conveyed verbally from a boatman to the angler.
The foregoing fishing reel equipped with the conventional display device displays first information on a display unit in the counter case. In recent years, however, the amount of the first information concerning the reel has increased so that it has become difficult to display all the information on the display unit. In view of this problem, it is conceivable that the size of the display unit itself is increased in the arrangement, but this can cause an increase in the size of the reel. If the size of the reel is increased, “palming” or holding the reel becomes difficult.
Meanwhile, the foregoing conventional information collecting device is provided with the display unit, so that the second information can be obtained. However, since the information collecting device is disposed at a location distant from the angler, the angler is offered the second information, for example, verbally from the boatman, which makes it difficult to obtain the second information on a real-time basis.
In view of the above, there exists a need for fishing reels which overcome the above mentioned problems in the prior art. This invention addresses this need in the prior art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.