A DAY'S FISHING.

Oxford Observer, Volume XX, Issue 1, 14 December 1889, Page 5

A DAY'S FISHING.

[By Piscatob.] • Every man has a great desire to see all the ins and outs of any amusement or sport that he doe? not {properly understand ; so, with that , desire strong within me, I gladly accepted an invitation from a few friends to spend a day trout-fishing at the Oust.' I was told there would be grand sport. There were plenty of fish in the stream, in faot they were just jostling one another; and' we had with us one of tha best fishermen in New Zealand —his equal at casting a fly was not to be found. My friend said (and lin my innocence believed) he could throw a fly fifty yards through the flax bushes, and make it light on a three-penny bit. No wonder I was anxious to join the party, and see this prodigy. I have often heard that'' Life Insurance agents and Book-hawkers are the only real liars in existence, but they must look to their laurels when fishermen are about ' : ' had been ardent and enthusiastic .in fishing .when, l. was a boy, but truth compels me to say that I was most, unsuccessful in those days. . I have spent hours on the wet banks of a stream, trying to entice the finny tribe with a struggling worm, and, after half a day's patient fishing, I would return home with a miserable fish three inches in length &ii the end of two yards of string. I had only one fish— but I smelt as if I had ten dozen. A little brother, who had a better nose than heart, declared that if he had to sleep with me he would run away and be a Pirate, I believe a Pirate gets 40s a day and his board. We started from Bangiora, well supplied with all the gear necessary to ensure a good " dtiy's sport, vizi, rods, lines, whisky, and landing-nets. I might mention here that we

made no use of the landing-nets. In due time we arrived at The Oust. Ibis is a small village on the roadside, that seems to be "on the flop." The only attraction it -has for strangers is its extreme loneliness and The Anglican Church. I have often heard of a "church with a chimney in it," but this is the only one I ever saw with a chimney outside of it. The church is a neat little wooden building but what strikes a stranger as remarkable is a brick structure or *'chimbley" as the irreverent call it, about fifty feet in height, and standing some ten or twelve yards distant from the church. This mysterious edifice contains the bell to call the faithful to prayers. We passed the Oust, with its chuioh and chimney, and soon arrived at The Jostling Pool, Where I was told ihe trout were to be seen tripping one another. Our Boss Fisherman, after be had sampled the whisky (a duty which we all carefully performed), and pronounced it good, soon gave us an exhibition of his skill as a caster of the &y. But the fish did not seem to see it. He said we made ourselves too prominent on the bank, the wind disturbed the fish, the day waß too fine, and made several other excuses that form part of a fisherman's education. I suggested that the fish might be at prayers, or more likely asleep, or perhaps he had not put on the right fly. This last he indignantly denied, and challenged anyone to beat his March Brown Blue-tailed Fly, which would lure any fish to death and a frying-pan, if they were in the pool. This pool must have b?en named in derision, or the fish— like the Irish tenants — had not paid their rent andjiad been evicted, for there were none to be seen. We decided to try higher up, and took more whisky to help us on our way — fishing makes one thirsty. One of our party was quite overcome (with the heat), and decided to remain behind and look after the sandwiches and things till our xeturn. We did return some two hours afterwards, hungry, thirsty, and flshless, when we found the sandwiches all right, and our friend asleep under the shade of a tree with the whisky jar for a pillow. We woke him up, and he assured us he was not drunk. It was necessary for him to do this, for obvious reasons. But this is a digression. After lunch we went down stream, and soon had A Splendid Rise. For the benefit of the uninitiated, I may mention that a "rise" is when a fish jumps at an artificial fly, and, on discovering, his mistake, turns a double somersault in the air, grins at his baffled foes, drops quietly into the water, and swims gently away. Well, that is what we had. I was glad we had made' a good lunch, for a "rise " iB no good to eat. ' a We tried all down stream, but without success. Once the monotony was broken — a fish was hooked. He got away ; " weighed ten pounds at least," said the Fly-caster. The fish that get away are always large ones. One of the party, who is only small potatoes at anything, in his eagerness to help his fortunate companions in landing the supposed ten-pounder, lost his balance, and went fiij>pt.y flop into the clear and sparkling v.uio;>: of tbe Oust. He floundered out, and swore heavy oaths. That was only natural (I mean the swearing), I would have done so myself. We asked him as a favor, if he had to swear, not to use foreign oaths, but to swear like a gentleman and a Christian. He gavo no heed to our request. He was like Lord Rough-diamond in " Skittles," did not ape gentility, and by religion was a follower of Mabomet ; and he swore loud enough and strong enough to scare all the fish in the streams for miles around. The Fly-caster said it was no use trying to fish after that, and we had better get towards home. Fishermen are superstitious. We had some more whisky, and wended our way to Bangiora, supper, and sleep, after having a splendid rise, plenty of excitement— one of us had a bath— an empty basket, and a real good time. My readers must not think from the foregoing remarks that no. fish are to be found in the Oust, There are plenty ; but I cannot gay they jostle one another, or tread on each other's heels. I heard the Fly-caster telling an admiring audience, the next day, that he caught seventeen, weighing twenty-five pounds, and this with .a face the gravity ol which would become a Supreme Court Judge, Another instance of the truthfulness of fishermen. t nearly forgot to add that there iB an hotel at the Oust. We called there to re. plenish the whisky jar.