ROD AND GUN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXXXI, Issue 70453, 2 October 1900, Page 4

ROD AND GUN.

(Notes bx Sentinel.) An English poet once wrote : — " The chilly winds of March are o'er, And April Bhowers stream down no more ; The suns of June o'er wave and shore

Their influences have poured ; The stream rolls oalmly as may be, The mowers gather o'er the lea, And grateful hearts delighted to see, The smiles of earth restored."

It seemed a week ago that the fishing season would open under the most favorable circumstances; last year it did, and opened on a Sunday 1 Alas for the hopes of anglers who always look forward to a " first day," the weather broke badly on Friday, and continued over Monday. The streams were dirty, and altogether too much water to provide sport, and the fine theory of the poet I quote was nullified. However, an angler's ardor is not easily damped, and one and all are in a high state of expectation as to results later on.

A further quantity of perch wore liberated by Mr W. Luoena on Monday. 1 notice that Mr C. A Budge notifies fiom whom fishing licenses may be obtained ; I hope all who go a-fishing will have provided 'themselves with the necessary document.

Mr W. Cape, a Launceston- enthusiast, has the distinction of taking the first rainbow trout in Tasmaman water, on September 8, and the Launceston Daily Telegraph says the fish attracted the interest of anglers. It was nearly 12in long, and the markings were developed in the deep red band along the lateral line, the number of black spots on the tail, and the small jawbones and well shaped head. Many settlers seem to be taking praiseworthy interest in obtaining from the Acclimatisation Society fish to be placed in the local streams and dams. Amongst others, Mr Tbos. Bobson, Te Boti, on Monday last secured a quantity of perch to be placed in the dams, which are so well suited for the purpose on his fine property at Te Eoti. We trust Mr Bobson's efforts will in 6very way prove successful. 'Sayß the Sydney Referee of the 19th September :— The growth of angling in the colony is phenomenal. Three years ago men were almost afraid to carry rods with them on fishing trips. Those who did were often greeted, as they are yet, by the query, " What are you going to shoot?" When the anglers of the rivers take to properly built rods and reels and artificial baits in earnest and discard the bush rods of one jomt, the number of properlyequipped anglers will increase rapidly. For a man to continue to wield a heavy lump of myrtle, hickory, stringy bark or iron bark sapling which he has to manoeuvre to get through the bushes, when he can, for a few shillings, purchase a firstclass jointed rod with fittings and case, argues that he is either out of dato or is not possessed of the wherewithal. Beading the above reminds me that with respect to fishing tackle, Hawera is as well supplied as any of the cities. A visit to Mr Mackenzie's, Mr Scott's, or Mr Wrigley's should be quite sufficient to gladden the heart of an enthusiast wishing to be thoroughly equipped. The other day I picked up a work on angling, and came across the following, and, though it was written nearly Bixty years ago, the extract is well, worth a place in this column : — " Our main object, and indeed our heart's desire, is to extend the art of angling amongst all classes of persons. We know it is calculated to exercise a beneficial influence on their minds and morals, and to give the younger part of the cemniunity a really right direction. The art, in its very highest degree of perfection and skill, may soon be acquired ; and, when once thoroughly understood, it abides with its votary through life." To those whose ardour and enthusiasm are apt to evaporate when unexpected difficulties present themselves, and success seems uncertain or remote, some remarks nre submitted by one of the most accomplished literary anglers in Europe, Professor Wilson, of Edinburgh, when speaking to a gentleman who lamented that his success in the art was not equal to his anticipations. *• The want," said the professor, "of success in fishing -most commonly arises from the want of prosecuting the object with indomitable perseverance. Fcr it may be observed of a certain class of men that they owe their success in life, and fame after it, to their having seized and acted on one leading idea. Of the men whom the world allows to be really great, a large portion may be fairly assigned to this class. The very greatest men have perhaps been versatile, and have possessed minds capable of grasping' and carrying into active practice ideas and conceptions of a oast and nature the most opposite and apparently 'irreconcilable. These, it must be confessed, are of a very first-class greatness. CraSjir was not only a commander of the verjj.first order, but an orator second only to (Aeero, and an author second to none amptigst the writers of proae. Homer not only astonished mankind by the sublime conceptions of the Iliad, but also captivated them with the descriptive beauty and romantic pathos of the Odyssey, and at last amused them with the heroic burlesquo of the Battle of the Frogs and Mice. Shakespeare was equally great in tragedy, comedy, romance, and broad farce. Aristo mingled all these together in his exquisite Orlando Furioso, as did the inimitable Cervantes in his unrivalled Don Quixote. Aristotle was an imaginist and a poet, as well as a logician, philosopher, ana philologist. Bacon was an essayist and natural philosopher as well as an analyst and a lawyer. How different, however, is the second class, as v.c may term it, of greatness 1 Here we see men arriving at eminence merely by chalking out and steadily pursuing one ,andeviating road through life; by carrying out in all its ramifications one sole idea ; Bteering continually by one guiding star; acknowledging a soleness of object, a unity of aim, and a singleness ol apprehension. Thus we see the single idea which led to the discovery of America constituted the whole life of Columbus, and we know that the plan of his Indian conquests filled the daily thoughts, and conjured up the nightly visions, of Alexander the Great. Thus the destruction of Carthage was the sole policy of Cato; the subversion of the Roman power the very life of Hannibal. The whole soul of Galileo was evidently bound up in the discovery of the true solar system, and universal empire the perpetual dream of Charles V. and Napoleon. Thus, also, the life of Bentham was one long codification; and the invention of the spinning jenny the darling object of the indefatigable Arkwright."