Going fishing with Kotare

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33141, 3 February 1973, Page 9

Going fishing with Kotare

Those big brown trout

What makes our brown trout grow so large? Why do they average in weight so much more than their English cousins?

Is it something about the water here in New Zealand, or the abundance of just the right kind of food? Is it the amount of sunshine they get, or can they maintain a more constant rate of growth all year round because our temperate climate produces a steady supply of food? There are two schools of thought on the subject of growth. One school argues that food is all-important. The other insists that heredity is the predominating factor.

I believe heredity runs true to form in our brown trout. Admittedly, food plays an essential part in growth, but I wonder if we would have such comparatively king-size browns had their forbears been taken from, for instance, one or two streams on Exmoor, in the West of England? There, brown trout average about three ounces. What they lack in size they thoroughly make up for in colour and spirit. They are so brilliantly coloured, and so game, that you feel it an offence to kill them for breakfast, as I have done.

But our brown trout are descended from much larger fish than those found on Exmoor. I believe we have to thank two men for ensuring that the spawning browns they stripped, and the male fish that fertilised the eggs, were of a type that would give the Antipodes the great brown trout fisheries we possess today. Francis Francis, a noted angling writer and pisciculturist, and Frank Buckland, naturalist, writer, and biggame hunter, were intimately associated with the consignment of brown trout eggs that came to New Zealand in 1867. The 3000-odd eggs from which our fish are descended were consigned to Australia aboard the clipper ship Norfolk in 1864. It wasn’t until 1867 that eggs from the trout that survived the journey from England to Tasmania has themselves spawned that New Zealand was able to profit from the experiment.

Precise figures are difficult to come by. If we take the smaller figure given by one authority, Arthur Nicols, in his “The Acclimatisation of Salmonidae at the Antipodes,” 1200 brown trout ova were presented to Tasmania by an Admiral Keppel, who owned fishing alorig the famous trout stream called the Itchen, and 1500 by Francis Francis. Admiral Keppel’s, were gathered by Frank Buckland, who became somewhat of an authority on pisciculture, but who failed to record the kind of succeses achieved by James Youl, the man in charge of several experiments to introduce salmon md trout to Tasmania.

I<amous stream Because of Buckland’s failures I think it reasonable . to assume that the ova taken i and supplied by Francis Francis were more likely to survive the 16,000 miles they 1 had to travel before reaching 1 Tasmania. Francis was a ’ skilful angler with an intense 1 interest in everything to do ; with the sport, including ■ fisheries development and the , breeding of fish. He would . have been more conscious . than Buckland, I feel, of the ; need to choose the best fish, . and ensure that their fertii Used eggs reached James 5 Youl in perfect condition. Certainly, Francis took eggs from fine large stock. ‘ He chose two streams. One the Wycombe, at High

Wycombe, was described by a distinguished angling authority, James Engiefleld, as one of the best in England.

He wrote of the Wycombe: “It was for centuries deservedly celebrated as one of the purest and best of the small streams in England, not for sport with the fly-rod, but for the edible qualities of the trout it so freely produced, for their perfect form, beautiful markings, and sheen of silver shading to gold.” True to form The other south-of-England stream that provided eggs for Francis was the Wey at Alton. In a letter to his friend William Senior, Francis later recalled that: “The ova were chiefly derived from the Wycombe and Alton trout. In both places they reach eight and 10 pounds at times, and when we went for spawn at the latter place we took out four at once that went much over 30 pounds.”

The Wycombe ova were ; taken from fish at Thurlow’s , Mill. Englefield regarded the stretch of the river from that mill to Darvill’s Mill as the

finest on the Wycombe. It nroduced two trout for Tom Thurlow, brother of miller James, that won a National Fisheries Exhibition award for the best trout taken from any water other than the Thames. The two weighed 71b 2oz and 51b 6oz. So I believe our trout are running true to form. They exhibit all the characteristics of their forbears. But a word of warning. That celebrated trout stream, the Wycombe, which delighted everyone who fished it, which almost certainly provided Australia and New Zealand with the bulk of the brown trout fisheries enjoyed by thousands of anglers today, is now a stinking trickle of water, devoid of any form of life found in a trout stream. That’s mankind running true to form.