Going fishing with Kotare

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33095, 9 December 1972, Page 19

Going fishing with Kotare

Most of the items I listed last week are selfexplanatory. Three flyreels equipped with different lines are highly desirable if you are an all-round fly-fisherman with a long pocket. Alternatively, use one reel and two spare spools. If the fish are nymphing, the box of nymphs goes into a pocket and the fly-box stays in the bag. The empty box is tfor natural bait. Usually, a hole in a wader only too quickly makes itself (felt, and if you are on a short outing there is little ' point in repairing it there and then. i But if you are out for two or three days, especially in winter, a leaking wader can be most uncomfortable. Check the adhesive in the puncture outfit from-time to time: it has a nasty habit of drying up. The survival kit is the basic one recommended for trampers, and it must be kept in a waterproof bag. Inside are: matches, piece of candle, plasters, antiseptic ointment, aspirin, pencil and paper. Knife at ready The pocket knife should have a metal carrying loop at one end, and preferably incorporate a pair of scissors. Furnish an 18in length of nylon cord with a loop at both ends. Seal the knots with a match. Fasten the knife on one loop. The other loop should also be big enough to pass the knife through so that you can hang it from your belt. Suspend it down your wader: it is ready for use sooner there than in a pocket. The scissors are for dry-fly work. If you habitually bite the end off the nylon after tying on a wet fly or lure it doesn’t matter if you wet the hackle, but I find a dry

fly gets wet too quickly anyway without starting it off with a mouth wash. Need anything be said about the value of toilet paper in the fishing bag, unless of course you have still to sample the joys of willow leaves? The sheath knife digs the hole—and fishgut holes too, if you like to clean your fish straight away. The seagull quill and lead shot help to make other fishing more interesting if it is available and you feel like a change from trout to eel, say. The pieces of valve rubber in the swivels box are for the top and bottom ends of the quill float, but remember to thread them on the line before you put the shot on it. Fish-killer The fish-killer, or priest, is a 12in length of aluminium or light-alloy jin pipe with a 2in plug of lead at one end. Carry it on a nylon cord like the pocket knife, and attach it to belt or bag. If you fish much after dark, loop the torch to yourself too, but not on a cord long enough to reach the water . .. You won’t quite resemble a Christmas tree until you have looped on one more item — the landing net. I had to lose two before I made sure I couldn’t lose one in future. The second item on the list of six to check before an outing is the rod, or rods. One of each, fly and spinning, should be enough, provided the fly-rod can handle the three different lines mentioned earlier.

Apart from the usual considerations of weight and performance for the job, two matters help reduce frustration over fly-rods when you are all fingers and thumbs on arrival at the water. Mark the male and female halves of each ferrule at home some time so that when the marks coincide the rod-rings are perfectly aligned.

The other matter may be one of personal taste, but it does save time and temper on those occasions when the line or leader gets caught round the tip of the rod. At those times I am usually in the middle of a glassy pool, certainly yards from shore, and trout are rising freely within casting distance. Unless you have arms about six feet long, or don’t mind dunking the reel, use a rod for general fly-fishing no longer than about Bft 6in. Nine times out of 10 you can unravel the tangle without moving from the water — and finish up with a dry re& and the fish still rising. Many anglers find tacklingup an unnerving business, especially at the water’s edge, because their imaginations are already playing the fish of the year. It’s all very well counselling less haste, but it takes years of more haste to prove that you must go slow at this point to save trouble later on. Two of the most common results of haste are missed rod-rings, and casts that jump out of your grasp as you feverishly feed them through the rings and trickle back to the ground under the weight of the fly-line below. Both these frustrations can be avoided. Objections Three private objections and one from the Christchurch Regional Planning Authority had been received by Wednesday, the closing date, to an application by Rookwood Holdings, Ltd, for a specified departure townplanning permit to allow a subdivision of 102 residential sections to take place at Scruttons Road and Laing Crescent, in the rural zone at Heathcote Valley. The council will set a date for the hearing of submissions.