ANGLING

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 57, 1 December 1923, Page 19

ANGLING

(By

“Cochy Bondhu.”)

An angler who haunts the Wainui regularly did well thtero last >veek-cnd. He put m. Saturday on the Akatarawa. but left it in disgust with nothing. Over a score of fish fell to the lot of his party on the Wainui. Tlio Otaki yielded the nice baske* of five fish last week, the heaviest of wli’ch (was Tib. Another party brought nine home from the same river in two outings, all of which were taken on the oelskin phanton. A good colour may be given to the gold Devon by smo-king it to a golden brown, and then giving it several coats of varnish. The result is wonderfully deceptive of transparency, and has proved very successful in the southern rivers.

The first salmon reporter! this season were taken recently off Ngahauranca while trolling for' kahawai from a JauncTi near the outlet from the wonts. They wcrs not heavy fish, the largest being some seven pounds, and this opens up an interesting point, whether they are the advance guard of the spawning run, or whether they are young fish which have not' yet reached the spawning age, and are to be caught round the coast away from river mouths. Very few fish of this size ascended the southern rivers in company with the spawning run, and then they were not found far up stream. The majority of quinnat that come in to spawn run from 14 to 161 b. Hutt lower reach fishermen will nevertheless get a thrill from every snng while the salmon are in the offing. Reports from the south show that some of the rivers are getting back to their old reputations as good angling resorts. Ono of these is the Ashley. For some years this pretty piece of fly water was a fraud. It excelled in attractive ripples, but whether the mouth was too small or feed was scarce, fish caught were very few and far between! The Ashley is rot the only Canterbury stream that is giving better results this season than for'some years past. All the triImtarv sttretms round Kaiapoi aro providing fair sport, and the North Drain is said to bo back to its old reputation, which was very good. Reports from Featherston indicate that an unusually largo number of perch are feeding in the backwaters of the streams running into the lake. Anglers in the neighbourhood of the Iron Bridge and 'Bepncrill’s have taken some remarkable bags on the worm, and a few on the minnow. Perch up to SJlb. have been caught, and two men took fifteen fish in an outing, the smallest of which weighed two pounds. The Tnuhcreni.kau and Ruamahunga backwaters are said on good authoritv to be teeming with perch, for which Lake Wairarapa is an excellent breeding mound. The mouths of the rivers running into the lake aro also good fishing-grounds for jiercli. As a rule they arc found in the slack lagoons, and deep still water in' old channels. Perch give excellent play on a light cod. and though they form a branch of angling that does not give cither tbit exercise or the delightful stalking of trout fishing, a quiet hour or two beneath. the willows on some still bcckwatcr when the porch are plentiful and hungry is excellent sport. If a small Devon or phantom is tried it should be jiggled instead of span steadily. A scries of short jerky dartu on the part of the bait seemingly make it attractive to perch.