GAME-FISH FOR AUCKLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 90, 17 April 1925, Page 8

GAME-FISH FOR AUCKLAND.

THE BLACK BASS SUGGESTED. PROBLEMS OF NORTHERN RIVERS. SOCIETY ATTEMPTS SOLUTION. The introduction of a suitable gamefish into our northern rivers is still an unsolved problem; but attempts have been made by the Auckland Acclimatisation Society during the past season to discover a fish that will thrive under the conditions prevailing in. this province. Many of the rivers in question are muddy and slow-running and unsuitable for trout. Mr. C. A. Whitney, president of the society, states that attention has been directed t othe large-mouthed black bass. Its distribution is comparatively easy, owing to its adaptability to extremes of temperature, and its great tenacity of life under seemingly adverse conditions. It has been successfully introduced into nearly all the sections of the United States, to which it is not native, and into England, France, Germany and Finland. In three years bass became so numerous in Utah State that 30.0001b were caught and marketed from one lake. Few fish, it is stated, thrive in water of such extremes of temperature as the. large-mouth black bass. It is peculiarly adapted, in every way, for stocking inland waters; and there is no fish that will give more abundant and satisfactory returns, and none in which the labour and expense of introducing it is so slight. Qualities of the Bass. As a food fish there arc very few more palatable fresh-water fishes. The bass has firm, white and flaky flesh, and when cooked is nutty, tender and juicy. Its game qualities are second to none, and it will thrive and multiply in waters where trout cannot exist. Few fish are more prolific and there is none more hardy healthy and better able to take care of itself none more careful and tender in the protection of its young. The only limit to its production and increase in suitable waters is, then, the lack of food. Every attempt that lias been made to stock suitable waters with the hlack bass, has been crowned with signal success; and the fish even thrived fairly well in spite of big disadvantages. Black bass cannot be hatched artificially in the manner practiced witli trout or salmon. All that is required to stock a stream or pond is to procure a small number of the fish, at least a year old, and place them in the water. If the water is suitable and the food sufficient the bass will propagate naturally, and quickly increase in number. There must be holes of from eight to ten feet in depth at - least, to which the bass can Tetire in very: hot weather, and can also hibernate. The difficulty 'that the Acclimatisation Society has to face is to transport the black bass from America to New Zealand. Correspondence is now being carried on with American breeders of this fish to decide upon a suitable method of bringing some across. The cannot be taken from the bass and therefore the fish themselves nvust Ibe brought, and the difficulty is to keep them alive during the voyage. Plenty of rivers in the north of Auckland, and also many lakes and lagoons throughout the province aye considered very suitable for the black bass, and. provided the fish could be introduced successfully, it is considered they would afford splendid sport on rivers and lakes tvhere bait and fly-fishing have never been practised. Takapuna Lake, states Mr. Whitney, is splendidly adapted for the black bass.