"NEVER AGAIN."

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 108, 10 May 1927, Page 5

"NEVER AGAIN."

ANGLER FULL OF COMPLAINTS "TAUPO NOT WHAT IT WAS." DEPARTMENT CRITICISED. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. "I have come to New Zealand for the Taupo angling for nine years now," said an Australian angler to the "Star" representative yesterday, but I am never coming again, and of ten men in our camp on the Tongariro River most are of the same mind. We are going to tell our friends, too, and will advise them to keep away. I met four Englishmen this time, and they all said they would not return. "We were at Hut Camp, on the Tongariro River, run in connection with the i hotel. About five miles from Tokaanu on a pool there were sixteen rods and eleven of them were using spoon. Many anglers were unable to get fishing water during Easter. I think that in the darker winter days the nine o'clock limit should be cut down to, say, seven p.m., because it is very hard to tell what a man with heavy tackle loaded with lead is doing on a stream after dark. "No Fresh Stock Imported." "One reason why fishing has deteriorated at Taupo—and I can honsetly say it is nothing like it once was—is that no fresh stock has been imported for a number of years. For some time I have urged on persons connected with the Department that fresh Californian fry should be imported every year or two, as all stock that is inbred long enough becomes weak. The cost of bringing in fresh fry would not be more than I spent on each trip I made here—about £500. As regards the present system of stocking, in my opinion not enough of early run fish are trapped and they are not taken in the head-waters as they should be. There must be some reason for the fact that each year fish are running later. There used to be a spawning run of fish on May 1, but this j r ear when I went into camp in the middle of April we were catching ten river fish for one fresh run. As far as ranging goes, I can say that in nine years of fishing in both islands I was only once asked for my licence, and that was on the Rangitata." The visitor declares that Rotorua is "absolutely finished." River Banks 'Weakened. ."A point about the Tongariro that should be mentioned," he said, "is that the cutting of the manuka along the banks has weakened them, and the tendency is for the stream to further split up into shallow branches, which if allowed will ruin it at a pool known as 'long pool,' which has been famous for years. A groin is necessary to prevent this. "When, in addition to the deterioration of Taupo, overseas anglers are charged a fee above New Zealanders, you may be very certain there will be a falling off in the number of people who, like myself, spend a considerable amount of money in the country. The scenic resorts have ceased to interest us, and Taupo is only a shadow of what it was."