ANGLING NOTES.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12969, 23 November 1907, Page 11

ANGLING NOTES.

THE KAKAHU.

(Br "Ir°* Bum.")

I was engaged in making some notes on lake fishing *' hen a fnend deposited himself on tho window seat by my writing table and said. "Drop that, I and drive mo over to the Kakahu. ! After tho rain last night we ought to have a real good day. My horse is away or I would drive you." Now the Kakahu is always supposed to bo at its best after rain. The prospect was tempting, and in tho end the notes were put away and the horse was put in. The drive to the river on the bright rain-cooled summer morning was most enjoyable, but a glance at tho weed-stricken water below Hilton convinced us that the day was not to be a red-letter one. Ine downpour had made no perceptible difference, and weeds were everywhere; i have never seen the Kakahu so choked by thorn oven at the end ot a hot summer. A few small fish were rising above the crossing, and my friend addressed himself to their capture, while I went on upstream. At a place where willow branches overhung a narrow run, a pound fish took possession of the tail By—a Rod Governor—and I tried to strand him on the stones below. A net was hanging by my side, but I thought to save trouble, and wus rightly served; tho tiout was not very firmly hooked, ana just at the edge ho came off and flapped back into his native element. J caught a smaller one, and my friend rejoined mc with three half-pounder, in his bag, so wo went on. Tho willows have grown and sproad until they havo almost completely shut in the stream, and tho submerged branches have held back the silt and drift, turning what was onco good fishing water, into muddy lagoon-like reaches, whero it is quite impossible to tish. Our quest upstream proved fishless. and we tried down for a milo below the road with tho samo result; thero wore, if possible, more weeds aud fewer trout, so we decitfed to boil tho billy and wait for tho evening rise, that forlorn and often delusive hopo of the fisherman out of luck, 'liie billy was boiled, the bread and butter brought out, but, "Whero are the six hard cooked eggs?" I asked dolefully. A search through the gig revealed nothing edible, and then my friend remembered that ho had left them on the tablo at home, so wo decided to cook our four trout, augler fashion. Perhaps for tho betterment of his worldly knowledge, ho had brought tne morning paper "with hinrj and having cleaned tho trout, wo tore tho paper into strips, Boaked them in tho river, and wrapping, tho fish each in about four thicknesses, popped them into the iiro and stoked up. In a few minutes they were done, and m a few moro wo were looking at the bones regretfully, and wishing that thero had boon others. This is a very good way of cooking trout, tho skm coifiM off with tho charred paper, and tho slight smoky flavour of what remains is most appetising. Tea over, wo sought for the evening rise, and as dusk came on a few fish showed fitfully hero and there, of which I had a loash—all under a pound—and my companion killed one. The neighbourhood of a dead caby-haby under water in a wide shallow pool seemed attractive to the trout, but it was not so to us, and after trying in vain for some time longer, and catching nothing moro interesting than green weed, we collected our belongings in tho darkness, and resolved that until there has been a good fresh to scour out the weeds, we would leavo the Kakahu severely alone. Fishing in tho dark is unpleasant,* eerie work; the ford that rippled merrily in tho morning looks black and forbidding, and tho handle of tho not is used to take cautious soundings, where with the sunlight* on the water one splashed through as a matter of course. Onoe, so runs tho tale, a man went to fish a pool on tho Upper Opihi in tho dusk, and his flies caught in what he took to be a snag on tho other side, so he waded across to free them, finding to his horror that they had caught in the clothes of'the dead body of a man. Luckily tho angler was not alone, or the shook would have been greater, but I should not. have liked tho experience to havo happened tome. Probably in the old days many people were drowned in trying to cross flooded rivers, and never heard of. When lam fishing after nightfall and strange shadows are reflected by tho water, of neighbouring rocks or trees, I sometimes remember this tale—which I believe is true —and it gives ono a creepy sensation that may be more interesting to others than it is to mo, so, goodnaturedly (?) I will allow them to share it.