ANGLING NOTES

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16341, 12 October 1918, Page 7

ANGLING NOTES

early days. (SPECIALLY WRITTEN FOB "THE PRESS; ) (Bt "Iron" Bute.") To anglers more fortunate than ourselves, it is possible that the opening of the season brought sport of a sa isfactory nature, but with our own party it was verv certainly a case o e worst "first;'' still, on the following davs there were compensations, an we have been told often that a bad btyginning maketh a good end. _ _ 0 need be said of the fishing on October Ist, xblß, though most anglers in South Canterbury caught moie or kg trout, chiefly less—for mysclr, I caught much less. Baskets of ten or a dozen were not uncommon, but asfor oui an ticipated struggles to withstand the temptation of exceeding the twentyfive limit." I do not tlnnk this nice now regulation troubled anyone very much. As we arrived at the long pool above the Kerrytown crossing, on the Upilii, twonty-one great shags took flight from the water, and to see so many of these poaching brutes together, on a famous trout river like tho Opihi—well, that was the nearest approach to which we have noticed yet. With all due fear and fitting trembling, I suggest to the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, that they should buy some cartridgos for their energetic ranger, and send him to wait} near the Kerrytown crossing, with a douDie gun. The first of our compensations cam© to us late upon the second day, when, after an ill-rcwardod quest on several fly streams, we discovered the hundred-, yard length of a gently-flowing pool, and there, in the clear depths beneatn a row of overhanging willows, we saw a shoal of trout, which reminded us_ of other days. Three-pounders, twopounders, and so downwards; but they would not have a fly, or any of a varied assortment which were offered for their inspection, and again we cherished hopes of the evening rise, that evening rise" which always has been tho mainstay of a fisherman out of luck. A chilling wind arrived to keep us company, we drew back through the gorse and lit a fire, which warmed one cide of ns, while the other froze; ana then as tho dull cold evening turned to dusk, and "upright" sort of fly passed fluttering streamwards, and we went back hopefully to the waterside. There was an evening rise; yes, it lastea for just twenty short minutes, but during this brief time tlx© flies could scarcely touch the water without a tug announcing a feeding fish. Perhaps the pool may have been fivo yards wide, not more, and beyond were the willows, m readiness to claim an unwary oast, so I crept on hands and knees. to an apparently safe distance, and m another instant a two-pounder was fast- The fish ran hard for the cover of the bank, hut with firm treatment and a strong cast he was in the net and ashore quickly, where his twin joined him without) Then, if it had not been for those miserable willows, I should undoubtedly have had a mighty haul of trout; but when a willow branch is hooked in the dusk, andl played carefully in hope of shaking the flies free, and at last # a smash becajnes necessary,' and tho rigging of a fresh cast must follow, there is a great loss of time and some language. When all this had happened, and another brace of trout had been landed, the rise ceased as suddenly as it had started, and exact] v where I sat there was a. very cross angler. In the deepened gloom tho other fellow could not he seen clearly, hut once I had heard him whacking a stone with something, probably a fish; : and now I oould hear him cursing, ■which, on the whole was rather comforting, for I judgod that he also hadl found a willow, and hurried to help him clear, or see him smash. As it_ happened, I Baw bim smash; perhaps it was better so, for he could not now tell me exactly what I should have done in the same case. Anyway* there our four flies are hanging for tho next by-passer, and the .first evening rise of the season had given tis rix good fish. Again we had compensation, and this time in a mountain gorge, where, from , one dark pool to another,, a fair-sized stream splashed noisily, through a jumble of reef and rock. At last wel had found a hot, steamy, fishing morning, and the fly was_ thick upon the water, and fish were rising in the pools — big fish, hut not many of them. One fought in a pool and down & rapid for twenty minutes, and weighed Four pounds. Then, fivo miles up the gongo from our starting-place, wo chanced upon two good six-ptranaers, who both ro6e and were missed and would not) com© bo on the next morning I went bacK there with Rupert, and we returned joyfully with one sixpounder each. We had walked a long twenty miles that brace of trout, but they were well worth it, and, at least, the fishing part was noble sport.