FOREST, FIELD AND STREAM

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 6052, 9 November 1906, Page 4

FOREST, FIELD AND STREAM

(By (f PovGIV)

('Contributions to this column on tho nubjeeUx within its scopn will be welcoined. Name ami address ft' carnyqiendonta must accompany cumin umcutinea. not for publication, but a» a Eunrnntua of Rood faith.l Tho wind and dry ivcaUicr have greatly interfered with troul-fi-.hnig, but now that rain has fallen, the basnets should recover again. Talcing iho tap as a barometer, tho rains have put a lot of water into Wainui. which hod fallen very ion-. All over .ho district they should have a fre-lli-oning effect. A wail comes from Pori rub. from mi angler who hud really goi; fast into a iii,mens eleven pounder. The fish played up and down for twenty minutes before it—got off. SJo there was no importunity of getting tho scales under ■him and verifying , the 11 lb.

From the much fished waters of tho Mother Country comes a peculiar ■complaint about the evolution of “why, short-riding trout.” The author thereof writes to a Homo paper —“Amongst tlio many interosling problems which OonfruiKi the votary of tho dry fly today, not the least important is the unrkms fact that fishing ’with the dry fly seems to discourage troiß from rising, and to touch them to cook their food below the ourfaco. If Ihw be proved to ho a correct theory, and trout cense to riso freely to the fly in proportion as dry fly fishermen increase, then tho days of dry fly fishing are numbered; whilst tho less aniLitious angler who is contented to fish with i. wot fly will owe the morn scientific school of angle w anything but a debt of gnititndc for time ovc-r-edn-.mntiug tho trout and teaching tliem to seek for other fond in preference to flits It is probably tho experience of most anglers that, except in out-of-the-way places and in .streams that are but little fished, the trout rise much less freely than they uw-d to do. Oply consider for a moment how few now nro tho days in tho year when trout really take the fly afi if they mean business. In the spring tlio chances Aro all against a day when tho natural flies appeal- in any considerable quantity and tho hatch continues for any great length of time. Tho graunom fishing is always a very uncertain quantity, tho Mayfly proverbially fickle and disappointing. July In a hopeless month, except for evening fishing, and August is just as had, 'usually with less waiter in tho rivers. I find on turning to Mr George Dewar’s “Cook of the Dry Fly’” that ho distinctly inclines to the opinion that the dry fly fisher is largely re-' Bponisihle for the higher education of tho modem trout in tho host waters. It is somewhat of a.n irony that dry fly fishing, which was 'primarily resorted to because it was the only sports-man-liko way of killing shy fish in dear streams, hi now regarded as one of tho things which help to make the trout more wary than over; it was the result of wariness in trout.”

■ Thi« paradoxical conclusion, if it ho sound, proves how easy it is to aclvnncc in the opposite direction to that which is intended. The writer fears th< the ■education of trout will ho brought to Audi a pitch that they wil! eventually eschew surface food .altogether. And he adds: —“I suppose that this ■would lead to n grumbling generation of anglers, who fished with supreme iskill and empty baskets, to be succced«d by a generation of bottom fishers, and the total decay of the art of dry fly fishing, ad not only nnromnncratiye, tut actually 'prejudice! to sport. It is, no doubt, unfair to lay all tbo blame for this diminution in tbo number of ■onr rising trout altogether on the dry •fly fisherman. In any case it is only a theory, which must bo tested bv the evidence of experience. ■ .Many other collateral reasons will suggest themsolved to the thoughtful angler. Excessive and ill-judged weed cutting, improved methods of drainage, cold springs, and the like, have of late yeans greatly diminished the supply of natural flics on many of onr rivers. Possibly even in protecting opr birds we have allowed . swallowp and other enemies of the flies to increase, too vapidly. The rise of the natural fly has thus become irregular mid patchy. !«> that the trout can no longer depend ■upon surface foodi and have been driven to look elsewhere for their ■regular supplies of food, in consequence of which they now' only feed upon flies casually, and regard them 3in a sort of appetiser or bonne honcho, very much, to the detriment of the angler. But, after giving its due weight to tbo scarcity of the natural fly in the last few years, I should say that trout arc far more sensitive now to the influence of wind and water, changes of ■ temperature, light and thunder, than they used to ho twenty years ago. It is becoming increasingly difficult for tbo casual angler, by which phrase I moan the man who doesi netlive on the bank, hut has to take his day or hio week when lie can get it, to eatoh fish at all. •“Wo imitate the natural fly more closely every year, with the very roaaonablo idea that tho better the imitation, the more probable it is_ that tho trout will ho deceived by it. Hut suppose that an 'undersized trout has boon hooked on what ho could no! distinguish from a genuine dim, owing to the excellence of the imitation, tho fineness of tho gut, and the natural ■maimer in which tho fly was.presented to him. 'X'ho sporting angler puts the fish tenderly back into his native element, in the confidence that, ho will Jive to fight another day. But instead <o! thinking what a fool he was to he taken in by snob a palpable imitation rf the natural fly, and determining to bo:more circumspect in tho_ future, the trout, may have formed quite a differ■en'fc resolve during those few seconds that ho waa struggling at the end of the gut and wriggling in tbo landing met. Ho may possibly have argued from the extremely natural appearance of the fly that flies have actually taken to growing hooks barbed with stool, and ho may have formed the rfosolvo not only to meddle with flies no more himself, but to warn his friends to avoid them likewise.

"This brings me to the gist of my .irticle. I am incline;! to think that' the size limit ami the return to the crater of tender-size;! fish tends to .re-, ■duco more than anything the freerising qualities of onr trout. I gather that this theory would have the support of John Biokcrclyko. Writing of

Ulugdon Reservoir ho -ays: ‘lf any regulations caused quantities of fish to bo put, hack, tho only result would be to create a race of shy, short-rising fish, and spoil the s]xirt of those who do not use a minnow.’ It is no doubt spoiling and hnnaiie, from one point of view, to put hack all trout under Win. or tlioro-dionts; but I fancy that these firs 1 1 have soma way of spreading in formation, and that other fish get the benefit of their experience, until by degrees all the fish in the river become shy or short risers. Wo ail know that if a perch escapes after being once hooked it will inform the rc-.-it of iiio shoal of porch to which it belongs, and tlie angler may a.s well change his moorings at once and try elsewhere. It would be interesting to hear whether anglers who have Inul wider experience corroborate this theory, as it would always be easy to put in sufficient young trout to make up for undersized ones which have been kept; but who shall teach Trout ro rise when onco they have given up feeding on tho natural fly? The size limit could easily he dropped it it was 'proved to militate seriously against free rising, for under present circumPtances it may well be tho ca.se that we are busily increasing tho Stock of trout in our rivers by improved methods of preserving and restocking, wo are all tho while slowly tut surely reducing the number of our rising fish by our size limits and mit-i----i:aken generosity.”

There seems to be no limit to tho Himalayan gout and antelope tribe. The Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, it was recently announced, was importing several species; and now a new one has tome to light. This is the .Screw, a specimen which lias reached London fer tho first time. It is d -c ib d as shaggy and uuaainly in app arancc, bn: marvellously surefooted, mid not ungraceful hi its movements. Thin auimah occupies a place between tho goats and tho antelopes. It inhabits the Himalayans at high elevations, frequenting the steepest and roughest places. It is clothed with rather coarse dark hair; its hoofs are narrow, its tail short, and its ears large. Its rather small horns arc black, curved, and ringed for the greater part of their length. It is a very powerful beast, and, although shy and retiring in its disposition, dangerous when at bay.