FISHING AND FISHERMEN.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1250, 13 February 1896, Page 30

FISHING AND FISHERMEN.

Communications for tins column should be addressed “Blue Dun,” New Zealand Mail Office, Wellington. The Editor will be glad to receive accounts of catches, descriptions of fishing grounds, fishing experiences and anecdotes generally.

AN AMERICAN LADY’S CATCH OF TARPON.

The story of a remarkable feat of angling accomplished bv an American lady is told graphically in the Queen. Tarpon fishing, the popular sport in Florida, is said to be the most seductive of all forms of angling. Mrs Patterson's recoid catch is thus recorded: —“During the late spring Mr J. N. Patterson, of Philadelphia, and Mrs Patterson took up their quarters at Thorpe cottage, Fort Mjers, Florida. Mr Patterson had been fairly successful, but one morning Mrs Pattersc-n thought fit to be more so, and, rising early, called her boatman, and was rowed out on the Caloosahatchee river. For once the tarpon were on the feed, and within a very short space of time one was hooked, and, after an exciting struggle of some 20

minutes, duly gaffed and made safe. Most anglers would have been contented to return to the hotel with this fish of 1071 b weight as a before-breakfast catch, but not so Mrs Patterson. The hook was fresh baited, and in less than an hour another bite was had ; the line slowly ran over the side of the boat, and after seconds of suspense the time for striking came. Then a perfect monster of a fish almost stood on its tail as it came to the surface and endeavoured lo shake the cruel hook from its throat; but the lady's grip was firm, her leeling deft ; and let the fish leap and roll and plunge and dive as it would, the line was always taut—not too taut, but just taut enough. The butt of the rod was inserted in the hollow in the m l straining on the now tired ‘ king herring,’ once more was the gaff craftily inserted, and the second fish of th.it eventful morning hauled alongside the boat. It had taken but 16 minutes to kill, and weighed 1201 b. There is no doubt that this brace of tarpon stands a world’s record as a lady’s ‘ basket of fish,’ taken within a matter of two hours’ fishing. The larger fish measured just 6ft, the smaller one' sft Sin in length, and both were in lovely condition."

GOSSIP. In the Scottish Review for December in the course of an article on fish hatchery in Scotland says : —lf conditions are suitable on the spot, vhere are now no insuperable difficulties in the way of transferring the most recently developed fishes, to compete in the struggle cf existence with the more ancient survivals in the Antipodes, or elsewhere. Thus, we have not only successfully stocked the rivers of New Zealand with the salmon tribe—but trout have reached the Neilgherry hills of India from the Howieton ponds, and a few generations more will have re-distributed the fish fauna of the world. It remains to be seen whether the fish will show equal vitality.

The Bush Advocate (Danevirke, Hawke's Bay) states that a 61b eel caught in the Mauawatu River recently was found upon being opened to contain the heads of two trout, each of which had been about 31b in weight, a fact which goes to show that it is not good for the trout to be in company with eels. A fresh-water crayfish, with its claws and all its parts in perfect order, was also found in the ell’s interior.

A correspondent of the Southland Times relates a fish story. An old angler was fishiDg in the Oreti, and, to use his own language, “Her got somethingj the jather

night and her can’t make out how it happened. Her had made her cast and found her had got a bite, and when her landed it her found her had a trout and three eels. As her had only two hooks with worms, besides the bait for the trout, her come to the conclusion that the third eel had hold cf the tail of one of the others, aud that’s how her landed it; anyhow her got three eels and a trout for the one cast.”

“ Mosstrooper,” in the Illustrated S. and D. News in an article on trout fishing in New Zealand, says -—“ The tributaries of some of New Zealand’s large snow rivers are swarming with large trout, and these waters are quite out of the ken of the ordinary New Zealand angler, who does not often care about more than one day’s journey to his water. The sources of the Waitangi, for instance, have but a few sheep stations and scattered farms. Consequently the trout aie only taken by the station hands with what they ironically call ‘ the blue steel fly,’ or spear, or even a pitchfork. . . . Watercress is another instance of the wonderful growth that there is in this favoured country. It costs the Christchurch Drainage Board something like £2OO per annum to keep it in bounds, otherwise it would choke the streams and overflow anywhere.” He tells a good story of a fisherman who gets his tackle from England. This gentleman was eulogising the strength of his casts, and pointing lo a wooden pile supporting a bridge in the Upper Selwyn said:—“Look at that pile; see how it’s bent; well, 1 got my fly foul an! had to break the cast, and that's the result.”

Tourists may shortly expect to have good fishing up at Rotorua (says the N.Z. Herald). Mr Menzies, manager of the Northern’ Club, received by train from Mr B. McDonald, of Rotorua, a fine specimen of what is believed to be the American brown trout, caught in one of the streams flowing into Lake Rotorua It scaled, cleaned, 1 Ib, and when taken out of the water must have weighed 171 b to 17|lh. Mr Alfred Warbrick has sent a trout weighing 16lb caught in the Ngongotaha stream, to Mr Cheeseman, Curator lo the Auckland Museum, in order to ascertain its variety.

A south exchange tells the following rather good story :—“ A novel incident which occurred to one of our most enthusiastic anglers the other day has excited some amusement in fishing circles. Ke was standing up to the knees in the water casting a nice fat worm into a favourite pool of his with very little success, and was on the point of making for fresh fields and pastures new when all at once the reel went -whizzing out, and'the fish went tearing down stream. Our fisherman was standing on a spit at the time, and as there was, in his opinion, too much line going out, he thought he had better make for the bank and follow the fish down the river, but lo! the first step taken bankwards found him investigating the habitations of the trout in a 6ft hole. Nothing daunted, he hung on to the rod and allowed the fish to tow him quietly downstream. As the fish seemed to be disinclined to stop at side stations our friend made for the shore on his own account, minus his rod. He hastened along to where there was a beach a short distance below and waded in a piece, expecting to be able to catch his rod passing down. Imagine his di-appointment to find that when approaching within a few yards of him its course was suddenly altered, and his state of mind was something terrible on observing his pliant rod come to anchor calmly in a backwater on the opposite side of the river. After consideration, he decided that he would secure that fish or die in the attempt. Stripped to the buff, our worthy angler, like Horatius of old, plunged into the raging torrent, aud managed to wend his way to the other side of the river. He got hold of his rod and commenced to wind up the reel. ‘A regular beauty,’ he said to himself ; 4 it must be a heavy fish/ Again disappointment fell to his lot, for, after some 10 minutes, he man iged to land an eel weighing about 111 b. Thi6 was disheartening to say the least of it; but there is a silver lining to every cloud. A-i the cel seemed to have a fairly large cargo of general goods our friend thought he would have a post mortem on the carcase. On being opered the first object that met his gaze was a trout, newly swallowed and about lib weight. Thu fish, I may say, was not left for the gulls, but will, I fancy, be preserved in spirits as a memento of a somewhat sensational fishing experience”