ANGLING NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVIII, Issue 18573, 27 November 1920, Page 4

ANGLING NOTES.

By IRON BLUk. THE DAM~POOL. Be calm now, that heading does noli, include a swear word, but is more the. narno for a successful experiment. The*' “Dam Pool” is on a favourite fly-; stream, and in all this beaßtly dry north-festered weather, it had shrunk' from its ordinary consequence, as a place where one might always catch a; trout cr probably more, into the likeness of a deep gorse-guarded run, which trickled gently away over a tiny ripple. We knew that under tho bushes there yet wtire trout, for after a visit in tha morning, Archie came bad: with new, >3 of two fhreo-pounders and about fiftymore, and as it not infrequently occurs with him, “ I could see them rising while I was trying to mend my rod. So to tho stream again, both well prepared for an evening rise, bixt really tho poo] seemed far too shrunken for any fishing purpose, though still w» staved in hope. 'The water escaped from the lower end of the pool, in a scarcely noticeable flow, a short six feet across; but, pre-„_ sently an idea came to us, we might 1 easily dam the water, nearly to its proper level. At least wo had an hour before any evening rise was probable, so we went to work. It was a wet-foot business but the day was warm, and soon we had a dam of boulders backing up tho water; and for our encouragement, as its depth increased, stray rubbish which had been stranded on tho shallows began floating down, and anon a dead gorse branch that Archie recognised, “ Why, I *Jefb that stick out on the shingle when I broke my rod.” Then we worked harder, heaving all sized atones from below, until our building was firm ami flood, and upstream spread) a charnong pool of two or three feet ’ depth. As we were finishing our operations, a( couple of half-pound trout came swimming down, and almost within handreach they took new feeding stations above our dam, and we retired to tha bank to await developments. Tho dusk of evening fell swiftly. As we watched, a whole host of greyspinners were suddenly fluttering or drifting here or there, and then we saw that our labours had proved successful for the rings of rising fish were widening over the pool we had reformed. If our largest capture during the hour that followed weighed two pounds—barely—still we had four of them about that else, and if the experiment of the dam pool only showed how l easily the fishing on a fly stream could be improved, it could not be denied that our evening had been interesting; and dourly the lucky owner of a trout stream will have little difficulty in improving his future sport, THE MONSTER FISH. The annual appearance of the monsterfish—that for g'oodne&s knows how long baa inhabited the big pool under the “ Devil’s Backbone ” rocks on the Upper Kakahu—is again reported at about the usual time; and again there is a story of a struggle ana a smash. On this occasion “ ’t’wasn’t me,” worse luck, but one who set out in life as an angler only during tho present season, and he saw the great fish cruising in the broad sunlight of a summer nioru. Then—-as any beginner might—he reasoned to himself that a very largo fish would of course feel more inclined for a very large mouthful; so, happening to possess a huge Red Governor, ho lashed, buckled or riveted that fly on a stout lake cast-, and onoe more very naturally—as the fisherman was a beginner—the monster accepted his offering at first sight. Here speakß the beginner, as he afterwards told of his adventure:—“The fly was big enough to make a bit of a splash in the water as I threw it out”— I like the J< throw it out ” pert. There is quite a lot of local colour in that—and it fell some way in front of him, so I let it stay 4n : the same place until he swam Up Blowly and swallowed it down ” You will observe, he had no silly doubts at all about the matter of the big trout swallowing his lure, so it was almost bound to happen; but is would not have happened to any angler of experience, I am perfectly sure of that. Next—" I gave * good pull:at him, and he splashed about a lot, and then went under one rock and then anothei, for nearly half an hour; and several times he was quite close to me; but at last I felt the cast grating on a rock, and presently it broke. I ain going to buy a larger fly in Timaru, and catch him again.” Now are not these beginners just sublime P He estimated the fish, quite casually, at *' twenty-five pounds good weight.” and is not so far wrong, either, if the trout is our old friend. That fish has been hooked and loßt at least a dozen times. Moreover, he has been shot at many times by tne energetic poachers of the country, until one is tempted to believe that they require a silver bullet. Perhaps the “ Red Fisherman ” might catch that monster with a very special bait. You know "The Rea Fisherman ” and hie chosen ways— There was turning of keys, sad creaking of locks, As he took forth a bait from Uis iron box It vu a bundla of beautiful things— A peacock’s tail and a butterfly’s wings. , A scarlet slipper, an auburn curl, A mantle of silk, and a bracelet of pearl. By the way, I do not think that the Red Fisherman chose that particular bait for a monster trout, but for .something a bit more fragile. Still, without doubt, ho would have many baits in store.