ANGLING CLUB

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22285, 11 June 1934, Page 10

ANGLING CLUB

SMOKE CONCERT The third annual smoke concert of the North Otago Angling Club was held in the Lyric Hall on Saturday night, there being a large attendance of members at the function. The president (Mr C. H. Stringer) occupied the chair, and gave a very warm welcome to the members and to the visitors, who included Messrs M. S. Holmes (patron), Williams (Otago Anglers’ Association), Orbell and Piper (president and secretary of'the Waitaki Acclimatisation Society), Parrott (biologist of Research Committee), J. Scott Main (curator, Hakataramea hatcheries), and Barrett (Taieri Angling Club). The evening proved highly _ successful from an angler’s point of view, much useful information being given in the short talks by experts on trout, while the social side was enhanced by musical numbers, which proved very enjoyable. The secretary read a letter from Mr John Maeonie, of Dunedin, in which the writer referred to the evils of pollution of inland and coastal waters, and urging a campaign against this evil, such as was being carried out at Home and in other countries, with a view to preserving the fisheries in this country. Proposing the toast of “ The Research Committee,” Dr Orbell referred to the wonderful amount of work being carried out by the committee in the study of trout and feed, in an endeavour to find out why the fishing of to-day was not as ; good as it was 40 years ago. They all had their theories, but all would admit the fishing was not as good. In 1868 the first trout were liberated in Otago, and in 1874 six years later —trout up to 1441 b and 1641 b were caught. The acclimatisation societies recognised the value of the work of the committee, and the Waitaki Society paid 2s out of every license fee to the committee to assist in its work. He was sorry to say some of the other societies were not dealing so liberally with the committee. They were indebted to the members of the North Otago Angling-Club for their assistance to the committee, as the diaries and scale envelopes helped in the reasearch work.

In reply, Mr Parrott, on behalf of the committee, expressed very sincere thanks for the co-operation given by members of the club to the committee in collecting data from the Kakabui River. He would go so far as to say that they knew more about the Kakanui than any other river in New Zealand, all brought about by the ekeenness of the angles. He specially thanked Mr W. Yorston for taking the daily temperature of the Kakanui for two years, which was surely a record for New Zealand. He would come to Oamaru at a later date and' give a whole night to speak to members on the subject. Mr Parrott then presented'the following trophies:—Diary competition— S. H. Pile 1. I. Chalmers 2; scale competition—J. Cairns 1, J. Lindsay 2, Mr Barrett, a member of the Otago Research Sub-committee, urged all anglers to assist the committee in its work, commenting that it was not the angler who was taking the fish out of the streams. Mr J. Scott Main dealt with the subject of trout and their problems in New Zealand waters, and introduced his address by stating that there was no difference between the Loch Levin, Blagdon, Rannoch, Scotehburn, and brown trout. They were all brown trout, and that settled this vexed question. After 40 years experience, he could not tell which was which, and he knew no one who could. The different names meant nothing. The brown .trout, sea trout, Loch Leven, and Great Lake trout were all one. The bright silvery sea trout caught at the Waitaki was just the same as the dark brown trout caught in a deep pool at the Kakanui. Mr Parrott said there was only one trout in his latest publication. The Mackinaw salmon was called a salmon because it had a forked tail, but in America it was called a trout. It was neither, but a member of the Arctic char species. It was only a difference of environment. The rivers in New Zealand were stocked with brown trout, and the first thing they did was to go to sea, and they were still doing it. The Atlantic salmon, which had no equal for sport and food, spent its whole life in the sea in other parts of the world, but in New Zealand it did just the opposite. Atlantic salmon used Lake Te Anau to-day as the sea, and these fish lived, spawned, and died in the rivers and lakes. The brown trout had done the opposite in New Zealand to other parts of the world, and had gohe to sea. Anglers should be like Mr Parrott and call them all brown trout, and that would be the end of their troubles.

, Mr Williams gave an address on the shag pest, with a view to proving that the small number of trout taken by anglers was not responsible for the absence of fair-sized, takeable fish in the streams. Mr Williams quoted the . opinions expressed by Mr Parrott, Mr Hcfford, and Professor Percival, and then proceeded to quote examples of the stomach content of shags, from which it was calculated that 10921 b weight of trout was taken by a single shag in a year. Or with, the trout at 4oz each no fewer than 4368 trout were taken by a shag m a year. He quoted Ranger Duncan's report to the Southland Acclimatisation Society about 583 shags shot by him, stating that after the . early morning all shags contained trout. Out of one lot of 26, 23 had eight to 14 fish per bird. At an 1 average of 10, the calculation showed that a shag accounted for 3650 trout per year, or as many as seven license holders. Mr Williams gave further figures in support of his contention that the angler was not responsible for the absence of takeable fish.

The presentation of club trophies was made by Mr M. S. Holmes (patron), who congratulated the winners on their success, as follows; —No. 1 competition, Kakanui, trophy presented by Messrs Swmard Bros—A. Bastings, seven fish, 51b 2oz; No. 2 competition, Kakanui, cup presented by Mr H. Burton and miniature CU p—\v. Yorston, seven fish, 4lb !3oz; No. 3 competition, fly box and 50 flies presented by Mr J; Scott Main tor heaviest trout taken in the Kakanui on the fly—l. Chalmers, 41b 84oz; No. 4, competition, Kakanui, fly box and 50 flies, presented by the club —J_. Cairns, five fish, 61b 540 z; No. 5 competition flyeasting, distance, cup presented by the c l u b— S. H. Pile, distance 183 yards 4| inches: No. 6 competition, Kakanui, trophy presented by Mr K. A. King L Chalmers, five fish, 21b 8Joz; No. 7 competition, president’s trophy for heavies, salmon caught in the Waitaki—K, A. King, 221 b (there were several larger salmon caught in the Waitaki this season, but this was the lamest caught bv entrants in this competition) ; No. 8 competition, aggregate cup, presented by Messrs J. Martyn and Co., tor aggregate weight in all competitions—l. Chalmers, 191 b 12oz; No., 9 competition, Kakanui, trophy presented by Mr W. Thom is -1. Chalmers, four fish, 51b 15oz; No 10 competition. Kakanui. trophy presented by Mr A. Bastings—l.' Swinard two fa=n. 21b lOoz; No. 11 competition, trophy presented by Mr A, Dumb for largest eel caught in Kakanui —J. Lindsay, 221 b. Mr Chalmers presented the cup and miniature cup, given by an anonymous donor, for fly-casting competition, accuracy, to M. S. Holmes. . .. Mr Williams took the opportunity ot congratulating the members of the club on their enthusiasm and on their work m assisting the Research Committee, ihe Otago Association, he said, was not doing one quarter of that done by the North Otago Club. What has been done at the Kakanui was a revelation to him, and he hoped they would go on in the same enthusiastic way. He had learned several lessons from the North Otago Club, and he would endeavour to get the Otago Association to do more in assisting the committee. It was announced that Mr Parrot would come to Oamaru in August to address members ou the results of research, Mr Williams to he also present to put Ins point of view. / The toasts honoured were: —“ Research Committee” (Dr Orboll —Messrs Parrott and Barrett); “Visitors and Kindred Clubs ” (Mr W. Thomas —Messrs Barrett and Williams); “Waitaki Acclimatisation Society” (Mr J. Robertson—Dr Ovbell and Mr A. C. Piper); and The Chairman.”

Musical numbers were contributed by Messrs A. Edwards, Fellows, G. C. Lee, J. M'Lean, and Sinclair Bros.

In conclusion the chairman thanked the performers, Messrs Main, Parrott, vv illiams, and Barrett for attending the function. the press, and the secretary (Mr I. Chalmers), and' the willing band of workers who had made the function such a success.