BY POOL AND RAPID.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1305, 7 December 1911, Page 4

BY POOL AND RAPID.

IIOW FARE THE ANGLERS. Tho weather this sprint' and early summer has been the reverse of favourable to anglers. The heavy gales and brief licrce rain storms have had a, disturbing effect 011 tho majority of tho trout: streams in the Wellington districts, particularly on the fast-running mountain streams beloved of the adventurous lishernian to whom the delights of plunging into the haekwoods is half the fun. Years ago the j'orirua .stream was not half bad sport for the eity angler. Now, owing to well-known reasons. it has gone right oil', and even residents along its banks do not consider it'worth fishing:. At Waiknnae, Elder's Water has not been very iirouuetive this season, but the upper waters arc much better, and several anglers Itavo had no difficulty in securing tho limit ('.'o (ish in a day). General Sir Arthur Dorward, 0110 of tim most expert anglers who has ever visited New Zealand, lias just returned from a visit to Waiknnae. lie was exceedingly pleased with the sport he got, and only lias alio complaint to make—the limit placed- upon anglers. Ho pills'it. this Way: A man might go_ta the trouble of hiring a vehicle at Waikanao to take him to the upper waters, and being there ho may with a little luck e.'iteii his .19 fi.sh in two or two and n half hours, and the rest of the day is lost. Kir Arthur, who is a very expert dry fly fisherman, ,h:is been experimentin? with it on the Waikanao.with ijuito satisfactory results. He, left to fish tho Wainui stream yesterday morning. So far the fishing out there has been fairly good, and owing to the big rainfall the stream lias not suffered by the erection of .Morton's Dam at Solomon's Knob. What it will be like at the end of a dry summer is another consideration altogether. It will interest auglers to know that a few days ago a boy took o monster «»1 from tho Wainui stream. The eel, which had doubtless fattened ou hundreds of young trout in its day, was sft. liin. in. length, 18iu. in girth, and weighed liOlh. If tiie stream could be cleared of a feu" moro of the family it would give tho trout a ljetter chance to make gocd. A few torchlight eel parti en might do unite a lot of good, whilst providing excellent sport. The Mungarea stream has been very in and out this season—generally the reports have been rather disappointing. Akatarawa opened badly, but is now greatly improved. It has not been fished liy many so far this season, and should be well worth visiting by anglers who are not scared of roughing it a bit. Few roi/irts have come in from the l'ukuratalii pin-am, and they have not been very favourable. Throughout Wairarapa (up as far as MastertoiO the fishing has been rallier better than normal this season.

i'lHHl must bo getting rather scarce in the Waikunae stream. Unly the other day an angler caugnt iv trout which measured 21 inches, and only weighed 21b.

"I thought it was a barracouta when I landed hiu>," said the disgusted fisher.

It is rather early for Tatipo, though there aro several parties up there already. J n another month the angling traffic on the big lake and up the rivers should get busy. The number of fishing licenses issued ill Wellington this season is about the average. There has been a marked falling away in the issue of boys' licenses.