OVER-FISHED

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 101, 2 May 1927, Page 11

OVER-FISHED

TAUPO FALLING OFF

LOWER "LIMIT" REQUIRED

THE DEADLY SPOON

(By "Pescador.")

Concentrated Government exploitation will ruin the Taupo iiaiiing, in the opinion of more than one recently-returned Wellington angler, unless sensible restrictions are imposed. Nearly three hundred rods, it is stated, wore on the Tongttriro Kiver' between the Kowhai Pool and the estuary, a stretch ■ of less than 10 miles, not all fish— able, in one day during Easter, each! entitled by the license to take 25 trout a day. One evening there wero ten rods on one pool. Anglers think the daily limit should be cut down, and the spoon and heavy tackle prohibited in the river, at least during the spawning run. DIFFUSED CONTROL. "It seems to me," said a wellknown Wellington angler, "that the Government is determined to get its £3000 from Taupo without any thought for the future of the finest trout fishing in the -world. The Government boosted Eotorua until it was fished to death, and it is not worth while going there wow. ' The same thing will happen at Taupo, unless things are put on a proper basis. Although the inland fishing is administered by the Internal Affairs Department, the control is under the Tourist Department. It is worse than a dual control, because it means that whatever complaints are made by anglers, the reoprts of- the ' experts' quite satisfy a Department not ' in actual touch with conditions. Anglers think that the control of all fisheries, marine and inland, should be by one Department, with efficient officials and proper regulations. More control should be given to men who know their subject, like Mr. Hefford, the Government Fisheries ' Expert. Formerly, though the advice of Mr. L. I\ Ayson, Chief Inspector of Fishories, was sought, it was turned down to tho detriment of the fishing." INEFFICIENT RESTOCKING. "Thero will soon bo more publicity than trout at Taupo," said another Wellington fisherman. "Taupo is riot what it was. It is being over-fished. There are not so many fish in tho stream in the earlier part of tho season, and tho favourite time for fishing it is late in April or in May, when the fish are making up river to spawn. Under the present liberal limit of 25 fish a day, far too many., of tho beat liah are intercepted on tho way to the spawning beds, and with the inefficient present methods- of restocking, it is bound to havo a very bad effect on the Taupo fishing. At present tho fry are tipped out into the shallow water on the margins of the lake, and tho first wind that gets up raises waves that pound it to a .ielly. Our Acclimatisation Society has practically given up getting rainbow fry from Uotoniii, because" it was taken' from iisli at 1 !io mouths of the rivers there. <The weak fish hang round tho mouths, wliiie Hie strong fish make up stream to spawn, and while 98 per cent, of tho ova secured from southern rivers hatched out, it was found in tho Wellington district that only 75 per cent, of the Kotorua ova hatched. Wo do not want; to aoo thoso methods in use at Taupo." REGULATIONS URGENTLY NEEDED. -"Then there is the apparently complete absence of regulations, or their non-observancn, which must spell deterioration in Taupo fishing unless remedied. Thero is apparently no restriction on baits and tackle. Men use heavy tackle, and spoons weighted with lead. The fly fisherman, espocinlly if ho bo a sport, and uses light tackle, with luck will land but one in threo of tho fish hooked, but with a spoon, witli hooks above and below it, and with tackle strong enough to haul the fish out, overy struck fish is taken. Tho man who wants to say he has taken the limit bog often uses this sort of tackle. Trolling in the lake with tho spoon might bo permitted, but it should be barred in the river, especially towards the end of tho season. What is needed is the entire revision of the regula-tions-and their more efficient enforcement. The. Government should do what private societies do, sot aside some of their Taupo wator for ily.and some for minnow and spoon, thus giving both kinds of anglers a fair chance. The bost means of arriving at proper regulations would bo to appoint a small committee of auglors who know tho conditions and what is required, to draw up a now set of regulations in coniunctiou, say, with Messrs. Ayslon and 'Heftord, who know what they are talkkie about." . ■ fa _ "There was a groat scramble for fishJng water this Easter," complained another angler. "Since tho general use of motor-cars, distance means little, and as the Government issued special Easter licenses, giving a week's fishing for 7s Od, the Tongariro Bivcr was terribly overcrowded, and anglers' camps and solected water wero over-run by fishermen tearing about in search of unoocu- . pied spots. The issue of 7s 6d lieenacs for n week at Easter is hardly fair to the man who has to pay £3 for his animal holiday visit of perhaps eight days at some other time of tho year, and it was a distinct annoyance to oversea visi tors who had to pay £0 for their license on top of all the other expenses of their trip." Some of the local anglers paid a visit to Americans' camps on the Tongariro, and one was: surprised to see a tall American, up to his chost in tho water, who hud played his fish till it floated side up, take the fly out and let it swim away. He carried no gaff, and was quite satisfied with tho sport It was merely an oight-pounder, and ho did not want it. Another aWlor vouches for the fact that a 151b rainbow was landed on a lx cast on a sixounce rod by an American angler, who killed" fish until a sandy slope offered the chance to gentle land it. "They do use fine tackle and light rods "lie mi, "and they do land the fish,' even rf they do not land all they hook"