ANGLING NOTES.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16209, 11 May 1918, Page 7

ANGLING NOTES.

THE SEASON 1917-18.

(SPECIALLY WRITTEN FOB, "ras I'RBSS. )

(By "Iron Blue.")

Liko most other things, especially good things, tho fishing season of 191'18 has had its ending, and with its "ten days extra" for the consolation of tho disappointed catch-nothiugor, and tho particular benefit of hea\ y speculators in quinnat licenses, is now ready to bo reviewed, beforo it is put in lino with all tho rest. "When that is dono, it will not rank high among tho others, for if one man says ..that it has been a- good and satisfactory season, it is easy enough to find several, who hold a contrary opinion, and apparently are by no means chary of advertising the fact. 1 think it is the sad discovery of the utter untrustwortniness of these quinnat salmon which has helped to cast a gloom over tho latter part of tiie season, and of course it is simply outrageous conduct on our* good Government to first , sell us licenses and then not to provide tho salmon which they entitle us to catch. However, for those who have bought salmon licenses durm c tho prosent year, there is a ray of liopo ahead; so George tells me. Next season, while buying a license, they must produce the olu. one, whon they will receive a little _ red button _ot honour, and bo charged just double instead of the ordinary fee, pour oncourager les autres, perhaps. 1 hesi-. tated to believe all this myself, but 1 I havo tho word of George for' its correctness, and by this timo wo know. George well, lor he is a great and mighty angler. . Apart from tho questionable quinnat, the trout fishing in our Canterbury snow rivers was rarely more than moderately good, and frequently it seemed an almost hopeless business. According to tho opinion of anglers who spend, most of their fishing-time cithor at the SVaitaki, Rakaia, or Rangitata, tho migratory trout camo up in fewer numbers, and though at certain tunes good fish "were landed, the sport fell below tho average of other years. As a rule, the upper waters of the Rangitata afford fail- lly fishing, and tho trout run large, but here in the past season there was little or nothing ; doing, and miles of the best water might be examined without sign of a rising fish. Wait a moment, that was not quite right; you could usually see the small quinnat smolts rising in any number, but a two-ouueo quuinat is a poorish substitute for a four-pound trout. During March and the early part of April, the snow rivers were often in fresh or flood, and as a matter of truth the weather everywhere was freqnentlv a chief cause of ill success. Of the sport in the best known fly waters it is possible to "write with, greater satisfaction, and on looking through the diary I find thnt if tho totals of the day's captures were less, the trout wore generally of better average size than in any recent season. This: would Be a natural result of the last three dry summers, which in some of the favourite fly streams caused the loss more or loss, of about half' the stock, but consequently left a greater amount of room and food for the survivors, who have thriven accordingly. At no time in the past season were the Canterbury fly streams disastrously low—seldom as low as<they are now, in 'fact —and given equally favourable through the coming winter, it seoms probable that next season will show an improvement in every way. Though reports from the upper waters of the famous .Opihi havo bean less bright than is usually the case, I believe that this was more due to bad weather and high water, and" poor hatchings of fly, "than to any 'lack of trout, and with ordinary luck and peace in Europe, the Opihi fishermen may have a good time coming. That wretched Henry 6ays that it is nearly due.

One of tbe latest captures in the past season occurred -in a rather unusual way, but still it was by means which must be classed as fair, even if they were of the crudest, and the scene of the fishing was neither a grown river-bed or a willowy creek. Nowadays, if you are wishful to have dealings with a weighty trout, one of the liveliest places to find him is in some constantly-flowing race or ' channel, where the water is carried By a culvert beneath a road, and news went round the villago of a monster who had his home in such a spot; to be exact, in the main-race culvert between the store and church. , Roused by the news, the oldest inhabitant resolved to astonish the natives by a display of angling skill, and daily he sat himself upon the culvert to his appointed task; his tackle a short .piece of line, a large hook, some baits of bread crusts, and a store of patience that permitted him to cast his bread upon the water and pull it back again by the thousand times. There sat the Ancient through the sunny summer hours, often until the late evening, and sometimes his cronies came to sit in council with him on his modo of casting, and some advised a sinkor and some a spear. April 30th came, and as the Ancient sat there peacefully, no doubt meditating on his fishing prospects in the season ahead, he felt a tug at his line, and heaved upon it mainly, and when I met him he was hurrying homewards, clasping a six-pound trout.