WITH ROD AND GUN.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1425, 22 June 1899, Page 39

WITH ROD AND GUN.

NEW ZEALAND, THE SPORTSMAN’S PARADISE. Under the above heading the “Sydney Referee” of June 7 prints the following highly interesting article : If anyone were to affirm that it was easily possible to sit down in Sydney and discuss Loch Leven trout, to follow the course with a pheasant, and conclude the solid portion of the meal with a haunch of venison, ana to do this and yet not draw upon the freezing chamber of a steamer from Great Britain, or the United States, the statement would probably be received with grave doubt, and yet it would be only stating what is a fact. It is quite possible that a few well-informed people could quickly find the key to unlock the situation, but it is certain that the great majority of “Referee” readers are unaware of the right direction to turn for a solution of the question. The answer is simple. To New Zealand we must turn our eyes—New Zealand, were the climate is such that- nearly all kinds of game, fur, feather, and fish, will thrive. And the Government of New Zealand are, and have been for years aware of the fact, and, with commendable enterprise have stocked field, forest and stream with choicest specimens of game and fish, the result being that today one can get sport amidst British and American game and fish at a price which would make sportsmen in the old land, who pay fabulous prices to rent- deer forests and salmon and trout streams, turn green with envy. To give ‘ Referee” readers an idea of the possibilities and probabilities of the sport to be obtained we interviewed Mr C. H. Gorrick, the well-known Sydney sportsman, who returned from a six months’ tour of the North Island of New Zealand in the Monowai last week. Asked for some particulars, Mr Gorrick willingly complied as follows ;

THE TROUT STREAMS. “I commenced fishing in the Makakabi river, in the Forty Mile Bush district,on January 26. After fishing this stream for nearly three weeks (where brown trout abound), with fly only, I caught some baskets of trout that averaged 30ib ,the fish running up to 41b in weight. The best flies on this river were “Bradshaw’s Fancy,” “Red Governor,” and some patterns that I had specially tied in imitation of flies I caught last season on the water. This river i£ rather a difficult one to fish, as some of the best ‘ripples’ and pools are unapproachable, owing to the precipitous banks running down to the water’s edge, whilst in other places the banks are fringed with bushes which overhang the stream, making it almost impossible to cast a fly without becoming ‘hung up’ in the bushes. Hearing the Rainbow trout were to be caught in a stream about 12 miles distant, I hired a trap from the hotel-keeper and started out. My first essay on the Rainbows was not a success, as the day I chose was far from suitable, rain having fallen the previous night, the river was m slight flood, which kept the fish from feeding. But my next trip, about a week later, proved more fruitful. « A DEADLY LURE. “I commenced early in the day with natural bait in the shape of a cicada (a small species of locust), fished dry, i.e., cast up stream, and allowed to float aown with the current. This lure proved most deadly, and at almost every cast I was into a rainbow. Never in all my angling experiences have I found such game fighting fish. From the moment he is hooked he commences to take long rushes that makes the reel simply screech. At the end of this rush, which generally runs out from 20yds to 40 yds of your line, he takes a terrific bound out of the water. JUMPING QUITE SIX FEET IN THE AIR. This is generally a moment of intense suspense, as it is now, unless securely hooked, your rod suddeuly becomes straight, and you have that sickening feeling that an angler generally experiences when he has lost a good fish; but should the hook be well home, and your tackle strong, the fight usually continues for upwards of SO minutes, without a single moment’s cessation. He bores, plunges, rushes, leaps until at last he wears himself out, and is quietly drawn into the landing net. Nothing is gamer than a Rainbow trout, and nothing more handsome. Just landed he shows a blood-red bar, about l£in to 2in wide, running down his side from head to tail, and gradations of all the colour' of the rainbow running off the red screak. v the way, not moi\> than twenty per cent, of the fish that are hooked are landed. The name of this river is the mangatainoka, and it is without exception about the very best river in the Forty iile Bush. It is an ideal stream for trout, being composed of a series of deep pools (a sure ‘lay’ for a Rainbow)’ with lovely ripples in which the fish usually feed and disport themselves. The scenery of the stream surpasses and defies description. Every kind of fern and bush may be found on its banks and in some places completely shutting out the light, and forming a snug retreat for some old monster trout, who is secure from capture, that is so long as legitimate lurs are used. I am sorry to say, however, that sometimes a charge of dynamite is set off in these pools which kills and maims all the fish for 20 yards around. This is

rarely done, however, and then only by some road maker or other who wants a change of diet. “The artificial fly on this river is very killing after sunset, or when the water is beginning to clear after a flood. I spent four weeks on this water, staying the whole while with a Mr T. B. Mason, who made me very comportable, and did all he could to show me the best spots on this excellent stream. “Whilst in this district I also fished the Mangahu river. This stream is a much bigger river than either of the two before mentioned, and is

HEAVILY STOCKED WITH BROWN TROUT, which run from lib to 141 b, but these leviathans are, as a rule, too cunning to be captured with artmcial bait; but sometimes, when extra hungry, one is caught, generally on the artificial minnow. I caught some good bags of fish in this stream, my best being twenty-three fish that weighed 711 b; the heaviest weighed 6flb. All these were killed in bright sunshine ,between 10 and 2 p.m., on the live grasshopper (fished dry). “From here I went to Kumeroa, and stayed with that prince of anglers, Mr J. I. N. Mackie. One of the best, if not the best, trout streams in th<#-Ndrth Island flows through Mr Mackie’s property. He is a large landowner, and is. acknowledged to be THE BEST MINNOW FISHER IN NEW ZEALAND; but during the last two seasons he has given up minnow fishing and adopted the artificial fly. This lure he finds quite as killing as the deadly whitebait minnow. The Manawatu is the name of this excelcellent river, and one has only to stay in one ripple to fill his creel, the rapids being in some places 200yds across and the same distance in length, and each rapid is teeming with lusty trout of the brown species, which average 2’-lb to 31b, but a five-pounder is not unusual to find in one’s basket at the end of a day’s fishing. The fish here are quite equal to salmon in their sporting and fighting habits. Here I had the best sport. I sent Mr H. A. Mereweather, the well-known Inverell sportsman, to this river, but unluckily he struck unsuitable weather, and his sport was of the mediocre order: besides it was rather late in the season for big baskets. DEER STALKING. “When the fishing season closed I moved up to the Wanganui district, for the purpose of having some deer stalking. After purchasing a license (which costs £l, and entitles the holder to kill four stags), a party composed of Mr Chavannes, Palmer and myself started out to the Kaiwhaiki Mountains, which lie about twenty miles west from Wanganui. We pitched our tent about mid-day, unpacked our rifles, ammunition and field glasses, and sallied out into the mountains in quest of stags. We all took different directions, and made for high points in the hills, where we could command a good view of the surrounding country, and spy out the land. “At this period of the year the stags are usually on the move all day (this being the rutting season), and their whereabouts are generally discovered by their “roaring.” I had not been more than ten minutes on my point of vantage when J. heard a stag ‘roaring’ about 400 yards away from me in a thick patch of bush, I had the wind in my favour, and had not long to wait before his lordship moved his quarters, and started to come in my direction. I kept well out of sight-, being hidden in some long grass, and waited breathlessly until he was within 10cyards of me. At that distance he stopped for a moment to listen, and gave a splendid broadside shot. Aiming at the point of his shoulder, 1 pulled the trigger, the stag gave a bound in the air, and lay kicking on his back. I found my bullet had gone clean through both liis shoulders, smashing his heart to pieces. After ‘sticking’ him I gralloched him, and cut his head off with the object of getting it set up. This stag carried a nice head of ten points, but turned out to be the worst head I got, the others being much better (the best- carried 16 points). “I was shortly joined by Mr Chavannes, who had been following a fine stag, but was unable to get a shot in before the buck entered some thick bush. We decided to wait on the edge of this ‘manuka’ scrub on the off chance of the stag coming out the same side as he had entered by. Whilst having a smoke we were suddenly startled to see him standing within 50 yards of us. So astonished were we that we simply stared at him, not for the moment thinking to shoot but C. pulled himself together sufficiently to have a shot, but when the smoke cleared away the stag was staning in the same spot, apparently untouched. This gave C. a chance to put a fresh cartridge in his rifle, but the movement made in reloading set the stag off at a fast gallop, crashing through everything; but C. instantly had his rifle up, and made the prettiest shot I ever witnessed, putting the bullet from his .303 express right through the buoil’s head, without damaging the antlers in any way. This proved to be the best head we got all the trip. “I could tell you many such adventures, but this is a sample of the sport and will suffice. We continued shooting in this part of the country for three days. We then had shot all the heads

we were entitled to, so packed up and made back to Wanganui. We killed ten stags between us, viz., Mr Palmer 4, myself 4, and Mr Chavannes 2, the latter only hunting for two days. We took all the heads into town, and they are now being set up as trophies. We also took in six carcases of venison, and distributed it amongst friends. THE COST AND POSSIBILITIES. A license only entitles a shooter to kill stags, and all must carry a head of not less than four points; this to prevent young bucks from being killed. Does, of course, are perpetually protected, and rightly too. We saw quite 200 head of deer during our visit, and plenty of fine bucks among them. “In the Wair a rap a district licenseholders have been permitted to kill an. unlimited number of stags this sea-son, and over 80 good heads came into Ma-r----tinborough (a small township) alone to be mounted which goes to prove that now VAST HERDS OF DEER are roaming over the back country in New Zealand. Good deer stalking can be had almost anywhere in the North Island of New Zealand, and all for £l, whereas in Scotland the prices paid for a deer forest are something enormous, whilst the trout fishing in New Zealand is the best in the world (quite a number of English visitors came over to New Zealand for the deer stalking and trout fishing this season). “The New Zealand Government and Wellington Acclimatisation Society deserve all sorts of credit for the way in which they have stocked the country with game. Last year the Government sent an expert to England, America, and the Continent of Europe to bring out game of every variety, and fish from the various country visited. Now the Government have set apart an island to breed the various game imported, and propose to distribute all over the province. Several varieties of quail, pheasants, ducks, trout, deer, caribou, and wapiti are now arriving, so in a few years New Zealand will be literally teeming with game of every description under the sun. At the present time I know of no place where such excellent sport can be obtained at such small cost-. It only requires to be better known for hosts of Australian visitors to go over every season for the sport, to be obtained, and this at such -small cost. THE COST. “A month’s fishing and shooting could be had for a nominal sum. The ticket (saloon) only costs £lO, whilst the cost of living there is very moderate. The whole trip could be managed for £25 to £3O, or even less, for the month if strict economy be observed. The fishing license costs £1 for the season, whilst a license to shoot pheasants and quail costs but another £l, and, as I said before, a license to kill stags but 205.” Mr Gorrick’s bag from May 1 to 22 was as follows Quail 90 brace Pheasants (cocks) 40 brace Pigeons 80 pair Wild pigs 4 head Hares 140 head Stags 4 head Fish, about 10001 b weight Specimens of each were brought over in the cold chambers of the Monowai for distribution amongst friends. The quail to be found were in countless thousands—so plentiful that few bother to shoot them. With regard to wild pigs, Mr Gorrick says that it is poor sport shooting them (with dogs) but if a spear were used, as in India, it would be EXCELLENT SPORT AND EXCITING WORK. The rivers are stocked with trout, including Lock Leven, Rainbow, Brown and Fontanalis, of Brook Char. As experience has proved that the different species don’t get on well together each river is stocked with a separate kind. In the Mangatainoka however, the brown trout and the rainbow get on together, although the brown species dont breed. In conclusion Mr Gorrick told the “Referee” that whilst in New Zealand he wrote our Fishery Commissioners offering to take temperature and force of water, formation of bottom, characteristics of river, etc., in connection with the streams in which trout thrived best and send same over here free of all cost, but that- no reply was vouchsafed. Of a truth we are many years behing New Zealand.