What Trout Eat

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 7061, 8 November 1929, Page 8

What Trout Eat

BaD EFFECT OF CLEARING. For some time expert fishermen have suspected that many of the trout rivers of New . Zealand, particularly in the Wellington district, have been failing to support ias many , ' .trout as might have been expected. , In order to investigate the matter the Wellington Acclimatisation Society made an annual grant of £4OO, a year, two years ago,, to pay the expenses of a qualified research student. Captain J. S.; Phillips, the student selected, has now made a report on the subject of very considerable interest to fishermen (says the Dominion)* ) : \

Until, this research was carried out little was'known of the food supplies of trout liberated in New, Zealand rivers. . During the preliminary period wfien, the rivers and : streams .round Wellington weiA/ hein'g:' examined by Captain Phillips; nuriiemis aquatic organisms were, discovered that were still unknown to science. Even to-day their life history is >a matter of .conjecture. After carefully Investigating the food supplies of the trqut.it has been proved conclusively that the. removal of riverside bush has had decidedly adverse effects. . Not ,pnly is there lack, of coyer for the flying stages of aquatic insects, but those that contrive to survive have formed a bountiful source' of food supply not to tho trout, but to birds. Besides, amongst other things, the increasing scouring has swept away other types of food supply and incid-

As an example of what the effect of the removal of riverside bush can do sample catches of trout food were tak* en in the Hutt 'River 200 yards abov# its junction with Belmont stream. M this spot, the banks are .bare, Only, ft few unappetising, .pupae . and):larva# were discovered,, -,1?-,. .the Belmont stream, Itself,, 'with. • W: banks, such proved favourites as )th# caddis larvae. May fly and creeper were caught in enormous num» bers. ■ In fact, a careful examination of fb# stomachs of a large number of; trout has shown most clearly - that caddis and May fly f orm between them-some-, thing like 90 per cent, of the; food eaten by trout.. Just after'.,spanning, however, when a rich, plentiful, l spring diet is vitally important,.these articles of diet are at their scarcest. Butifot the arrival of- the whitebait at-A'most opportune •moment'tbe'trbut would be in very poor condition at the 'begin* ning of the fishing "season. ' : r Beetles, far from forming an ’ article of diet, are, with one minor exception, a distinct disadvantage., Beside# feeding on caddis fly and other trout; food, they have been known even ta capture young trout fry in a most au* dacious manner. Sand flies, .Captaid Phillip? declares,quite an appreciable diet of the.trout* Many fishermen will take' eomfort from this, but will agree nevertheless* with Captain .Phillip3..when he rpmapks that therb is no. neqd to encourage '. o< even protect this abundant form, of trout food. ;• -)