AMPLE RIVER WATER PROMISES GOOD START

Press, 16 September 1976, Page 5

AMPLE RIVER WATER PROMISES GOOD START

Prospects for this fishing season seem good, according to those who keep their eyes and ears open in the weeks before opening day. All rivers have had plenty of water, thanks to the persistent rainy weather, and Lake Ellesmere and the Ellesmere system of rivers is expected to provide good fishing.

Lake Ellesmere has been opening itself to the sea on and off through the winter because of the volume of water coming down. The result is that the lake has been cleared, and the trout have had a chance to get out to sea and become much cleaner and redder in the flesh.

Whitebait and other feed have been able to get in from the sea, and the theory is that as they head for the rivers, they take the sea-run trout with them. Winter fishing This winter has not been fine enough to attract any large numbers of anglers out to try the experimental winter fishing. Reports from those who have fished indicate that results were patchy. Only those who persisted and were rewarded with an occasional good day .taught many fish.

One angler took 17 trout from the Ashley river over the winter season, but he fished several days a week. The weekend angler reportedly found the going a bit tough.

Lake Coleridge appears to have been the most productive during the winter. Several large fish have been caught there — but again, after much ef-

fort on the angler’s part

Fishing tackle shops say their stocks are particularly good this year, some of last year’s gaps having been filled by New Zealand manufacturers, who have produced tackle whose quality and finish is said to be just as good as that of imported gear. $245 rod

The astonishing featherweight graphite rods which made the first appearance last season, are to be augmented by four models from the top American tacklemakers, Orvis. These are recognised as the Rolls Royce of fishing rods, and the price certainly bears that out.

Other graphite rods now cost $199 each, compared with $3O to $5O for hollow glass-fibre rods. But the Orvis rods are a breathtaking $245 and $275. The four models range from a two-piece Bft 3in rod that weighs only 2|oz to a two-piece 10ft rod that weighs 4 7/Boz.