"THE FIRST."

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14474, 1 October 1912, Page 3

"THE FIRST."

(By "InoN Blue.")

(specially written fob "thb pbesi.")

Circumstances alter cases, and in speaking of "The First" \yith such emphasis 1 am told that the patent rights of "St. Partridge" are infringed; for in our own old country any mention of "The First" most frequently refers to the first day of September, when partridge shooting begins. However, we have not acclimatised the partridgo yet, and to the sportsmen of xNiew Zealand, the opening day of the fishing season is a chief event in the year. The big trout may not have regained their "prime fat Canterbury" order, quite so eariy in the spring, but if unluckily this is a fact, it is not necessary to interfere with them at all; and in spite of everything it siiouid bo a glad moment ivhen the first casts are made, and at last the angler can contemplate a whole new season lying straight ahead. Possibly he is the wisest man who makes his first venture on a well-known fly stream, where , a rise is not a rare or particularly exciting occurrence, and more than anywhere else the trout are likely to be in tho best condition. There he is fairly sure of landing a score or so of takeable trout; doubly welcome on "Tho First" because they seem, so nice and new and all —and each ripple or corner of the stream will bring back memories ol tho sport experienced in former years. Perhaps, in that pool at the bend, the fisherman may have attempted the very earliest casts of .an eventful and presumably blameless life, and cortainly it must gratify him to contrast present with past methods, and to review his rapid progress in the angling art. We know the.proverb about comparisons, but that is not an invariable rule, and there are many fishermen who may find interest in authentic records ot "Ye olden times." In those classic and, therefore, beautiful days—this is not an invariable rule either—when we read "fishing in Canterbury was at its best, a chief -rendezvous for anglers from all parts of the world was "Langdon's at Winchester. A careful record of their sport was written in "Langdon.s ReHster," which at tho moment is in my possession, and I propose.to a few notes of bygone "firsts." The register begins on Ist October, 1890, when with "streams low and a severe frost"' prospects, at least cannot have been much more favourable than they -ro nowadays. Accordingly, I find the I think it will bo better to suppress {lie names of the fishermen in every ciL except for some special purpose, and to goon to the next year; when among different catches at the opening of tho season I find these:—Thirty fish, 161b from the Waihi; eleven fish, 61b from the Opihi; 12 fish, 221b from the Kakalui.. Again "tho weather was very cold and bleak"; so is the record of their sport. In October. 1897 there is first mention of "a rainbow trout, ten inches long, in fine condition troni the Opihi: otherwise "all things are about equal to former years," except for a bag. of nine fish weighing 3olb from the Itangitata. . . In the succeeding years, it is not evident from the register that sport on the fly streams was any better than at the present day, and when faced by disparaging opinion, it may be possible to derive some consolation from tins fact. In 1899 it is recorded "A very fino trout was taken last woek in the Owaka, by a local resident It measured 36 inches in length, and was 23 inches in girth, and weighed 291b." Nowadays, our minnow fishing undoubtedly has not been so good, but the prospect, for the coming season points to a greatly improved state of affairs. Big fish are not only known in records of ihe last century for I have information of two that were captured in tho head waters of t!ie ; Ahaura river in Westland. The largest of these weighed 321b, the other only a pound less, but' sad to say they were taken during tho winter time, and I am very much afraid that • the bait which beguiWl them was a spear. More than anything else, the weather J will set a limit ior a fisherman's enjoyment of "the first," and send him hoineTvards a "sair drookit," miserable specimen of humanity; or given a fine when the trout have prove*. , capricious and scornful of his lures-—a happy cheerful man. If there is but a ■warm day and sunshine, it is possible to defer the landing of a great catch of trout; you have been at the riverside and fished once again; and there is nc man like an -angler for contriving to feel satisfied by little while wanting much. The possibilities of our climate apparently have no bounds; it maj snow on "The First," or blow hard and blightingly throughout the land, or turn to a drought—wait a momeiii lei us have a look at the predictions of that weather prophet, who is generally right. H'm, "much rain, and snow on the higher levels," not a great amount of comfort in that. It seems that we may not have all things exactly as we might wish, but come rain, come fine, we are going to'fish. Is the river muddy, and in fresh or flood? Well I am not going to say what one should do in a case like this. I _ now go in haste to send a peace offering to that weather prophet.