THE FIRST SALMON

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 60, 21 December 1935, Page 7

THE FIRST SALMON

CAUGHT IN NEW ZEALAND.

*v A GLANCE BACK TO 1903. ; 1 CLAIM FROM SOUTH AFRICA. •• if . , ■_ y' . \ *'4'A claim to having been the first 1 person to catch a qiumiat salmon in i New Zealand is made by Mr James ];■ Riordan (assistant to the racing editor of the “Rand Daily Mail,” Johannes- ‘ burg), in a, letter to a representative lof the “Guardian.” He states that ho landed a salmon in the Hakataramea i River early in 1903, though he does not remember the actual date. 5 1 Many years ago, when I was still at i school, I was greatly interested in a < controversy in New Zealand papers rejgarding the capture of the first trout. daresay a similar controversy will ‘arise as to whom belongs the honour of ; haying caught the. first qyinnat salmon lin New Zealand'. I claim that honour, land I feel certain that my facts canuiot bo repudiated,” lie writes. | ! “For . many years the Government (endeavoured to acclimatise Scotch or iEitfflish salmon in the rivers of my native country. In those days the fry was imported from Scotland or Ii c-. /land land liberated in New Zealand .rivers, but each of those experiments iproved a failure, 1 , : “Later, it occurred to the Fisheries Department, of which Mr L. F. Ayson iwas the Curator, that an attempt 'might be made to acclimatise the Canjadian variety of salmon, but a differieht procedure was adopted. About 11900 a hatchery was built on the Haka(taramea River, about threequartei s of [a mile above the township, and Charlie ‘Ayson, son of. the Curator, was put m .charge. Instead of importing fry as formerly, the ova was brought out and placed in the numerous boxes in the hatchery. Right from the start the jnew idea was a success, and the first hatching was an excellent one. •.j “I was very friendly with Charlie -Ayson in-those days. I was teaching kt the Hakataramea Valley School, 'but my home was in Geraldine, and I was thus conversant with all the tiout etreams round about Winchester and Temuka. Not only did they hatch salmon at the Hakataramea, but they ’also bred trout for stocking various streams. When they decided to go in for trout as well I was able to suggest t'o Charlie Ayson that the Opihi would hie an ideal river in which to obtain the sf>awn, and during the time 1 lived at OBlakataramea Charlie Ayson . jpade periodical trips to the Opihi, inhere he was able to net a number of large trout. The spawn was sent to the Hakataramea Hatchery. . ./’ “Perhaps I am digressing slightly, List I do .so in order, to let those interested; toiow that I,was fully acquainted with the subject. f “The quinnat salmon thrived in the hatchery, where they were kept Until they were about two years old. They were fed: chiefly on minced liver,, and' 1 used to spend hours watching the thousands of young fish disporting themselves in the pools. ■h “Then came the day of the first liberation. I cannot give the oxact date, but it was during the fishing season of 1902-08, my last season in New Zealand, and was either before Or after Christmas; I think the latter. £■ was not at tie hatchery when the first lot of quinnat salmon was liberated, but was fishing just above the bridge, and at the tail of the ripple where the river emerges from the gorge near the township, ; “Soon I noticed an enormous number of rises, and about my first cast I hooked two fish about eight or nine inches long, which 1 immediately recognised as young quinnat salmon. I can assure you these little fellows were most voracious," and in fact' were a nuisance. Catching trout was out of the question with these little gourmants taking the fly at every cast. “I' daresay! I. had returned about a dozen to the water when I thought to myself, ‘this experiment may turn out successfully, I’m going to have a 60uvCiiif in the shape of the tail ot one of. them, the first ever caught in New Zealand.’ The next one I hooked I killed, and cut off the tail, and when I left New Zealand iii 1903 I brought it to South Africa with me. I kept it in .an old purse, and was proud to show/ it to ally of my friends who were interested;in fishing. 'I kept it until 1925, when l lost it. The purse was practically worn out, and when putting the tail hack after showing it to a friend if must have fallen through a crack in the purse on to the floor, and no. doubt was swept out. “Such is the story of the first quinnot salmon caught, in New Zealand. The exact date no doubt could be obtained from the. records of the hatchery. There can be no doubt about my being the .first person to catch a quinnat salmon with rod and line in New Zealand. Among the locals I was the only person wlm fished with the fly on the Hakataramea. On the Kurow side there were a few fishermen, hut they ivere content to confine their energies to the Waitaki, where they fished with ininnow.

“Except for an occasional visitor from overseas, 1 had the fishing of the Hakataramea practically to myself during the two years I lived there. It was just as well, for there was hardly more .'than a mile of the river which contained trout. There was a very fine ripple below the bridge, where I caught most of my trout, and to anyone, finding it difficult to raise a bite I should advise him to-try a cotv-dimg fly,’with which I met with wonderful success: on that ripple. ; “Below that spot, to the conlluence qf the Hakataramea and the Waitaki Rivers there was hardly a trout, as the shags .used to; clean, them out. The sanie conditions prevailed beyond the hatchery in those far-off days, but I recollect catching two fine trout higher up, opposite the Hakataramea Valley School. One weighed four pounds, the other nine pounds. The former was the most handsome trout I ever caught and it was certainly the most game.”