FISHING NOTES.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20215, 18 April 1931, Page 8

FISHING NOTES.

POACHING.

, [exclusive to the press.] [l3y Black Gnat.] Those Notes, which are written by a fisherman of long experience and considerable theoretical knowledge, will appear eveiy Satvrday. Letters containing news items or questions, and addressed "Black Gnat;" care of the Editor of Thb Phebs, "will receive prompt attention each week. ' ' ■■<... Of all poachers, the one for whom the average angler has the greatest contempt is the user of explosives. Fortunately, dynamiting is not a very common occurrence in Canterbury; but on the West Coast there are few streams which do not suffer by it. A very beautiful trout Btream that has been completely ruined iii recent years is the Crooked - river, which flows through the Kotomanu plain. Down at To Kinga, where this river enters Lake Moana, good fish can still be taken; but higher up "neither ' small fish nor large can be seen. Most of them have apparently been destroyed by noaching. The latter question happens tp bo very pertinent,, for there are several West Coasters who have lost hands when using explosives for poaching, and at least one who has lost his' eyesight. It is also alleged that a few months back a hand was lost by a poacher operating in the Hororata. -X- -XWhile it is frequently Btated .that introduction of trout into this country was responsible for the extermination of the native grayling, there can be little doubt that dynamite was mainly responsible. The English grayling and brown trout have lived in harmony for years, and in this country it isi to be supposed that a temporary upset of the balance in streams would hav3 followed the introduction-of the trout/ and that • when a new balance was established it would have been one not altogether unsatisfactory from the point of view of the grayling. •JS> -ft # While most anglers are abovo taking fish by such destructive methods as using lime or explosives, there are few of them who do not on occasion take a fish by illegal methods. The writer can vouch for the accuracy of the following yarn. The day was Friday and the Christchurch angler had been asked by his Irish host to be sure to bring back a trout for the pot. All day he fished without' and towards evening he returned upstream tpwards a fine fish that earlier in the day had defied , his eiforts. The. fish, a fivepounder, again refused a succession of flies, so the angler "tied on a minnow mounting, and determined to foulhook the fish. A cpsfc was made up and across the trout, and as the hooks landed beyond it the, angler was astonished to° see the fish dart forward and seize them. Truly the shades ,of Waltdn- and Cotton must have intervened to save the angler, who for years has use none but honest means, for turning poacher.

f'Punch" comments .$a follows ,on the fact that motor-cars specially designed and equipped for the. use. of anglers are 'suggestive:—'.'Our fear is that confusion of "ideas ftouldv result in descriptions of whopping;.pedestrians i that-had got away." I * * l That it is' always advisable to, fish with' the fobd that the fish happens to Le taking at the -moment was well shown a few years ago when a certain very distinguished personage from overseas visited Taupo. As it was highly desirable that he should leave New Zealand with a good impression of the rainbow trout fishing, special i pains were taken to ensure the success j of his angling efforts, and for two days immediately prior to his visit prison i labour frorii a nearby' afforestation ] camp was engaged in the task of dig-1 ging worms and tfpping them into the Tongariro river, a short distance above i where it enters the lake. /The experiment proved successful,' ana' large trotit/ in prodigious numbers ran up from the lake to feed on the wriggling tangles of worms, and there seemed little doubt wheny l the day-before the visitor's, arrival, work was stopped" Chat the following evening the sun would not set on an empty bay;, and there were Hot a few Taupo residents prophe-. sied a record catch. The/rateful day dawned, and the overseer ;0f * the diggers of worms went early to the river to' make Bure that there remairiod- no trace of the ground bait. ; Trout lay about in shodls,' and not a worm was to ,be seen. Shortly' afterwards tb6 "distinguished visitor arrived, and proceeding to the river fished, as ' all' distinguished visitors, 40, with a fly. All day he fished; .but not a rainbow did he catch, for,the trout, gorged after feeding for two days exclusively on succulent '"worms, had apparently forgotten .what a fly tasted ljk,e.'