ANGLING

Otago Witness, Issue 1853, 27 May 1887, Page 27

ANGLING

{Readers are invited, to contribute items of local fishing news for insertion in this column. ' For insertion •'■ in tks ensuing "issue they should reach Dunedin by Mondaymigkt's.mail.] ■ ,-.< "?'

The egg harvest, has, commenced, early r ,thft season. At the fish ponds belonging to the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, already ; upr, wardsldf ,'40,000' ova!have been ,takep^ from '3s American brook "char, 'arid r brown J and r Looh Leveh trout are showing signs of spawning. - f A ! large take of ova is expected this 'season. . I „ ' -.SCApES.-, • .• <,* , • : ' ,In the typical raysthe Body is excessively "depressed and^ forms, with -the. expanded pectoral fins, V circular 1 , or subrh'omboida! disc, of which the slender tail appears as a more or less long appendage. The true' rays lead a sedentary, life, mov-, ing slowly on the. bottom and rarely ascending to. the surface. The tail having lost -the function of an organ of locomotion, acts merely as a rudder^ They are, 'like the sharks, exclusively carniverous, but unable to pursue and catch rapidly moving "animals ; therefore they feed chiefly on molluscous and crustaceous animals. Their method of feeding is described by Gunther in' his " Study of Fishes." The colour of their integuments assimilates so closely with that of their surroundings that other fishes approach them near > enough' tCM be captured by them. The- mouth of the rays being entirely at the lower surface of the head, the prey is not directly seized with the jaws, but the fish darts over its-victim so, as to cover and hold it down with its body,' when it is conveyed by some rapid motions to the mouth. The "electric ray " gives the electric shock voluntarily, -when it is excited to do so in- self, defence or intends to. stun orto> .kill its prey; but to receive the shock the 'object must complete the galvanic circuit by communicating with the fish at two- distinct points either directly or through the medium of some conducting body. It is said that a painful sensation may be produced by a discharge conveyed through the medium of a stream of water. The electric currents created in these fishes have all the known power of electricity ; they render the needle magnetic, decompose chemical compounds and emit the spark. The dorsal surface of the electric ■ organ is positive, the ventral surface negative. A GAME FIGHT FOR LIFE. We find the following extraordinary adventure with a salmon in one of our recent London exchanges, and feel sure it will send a thrill of pleasure tingling through the Angers of anglers, on this side of the water. Brother fishermen, can any of you record a similar instance of ; patient pluck and .perseverance ?" Mfr Conlin Wood, one of the best rod fishers in , % Scotland, succeeded in hooking a salmon . considered .to, > be , the largest that has ever 'been hooked in the North r Esk. The skilful manoeuvres of the angler were brought into play,- but hour after hour wore away and still the fish was as, strong as ever; the moon rose and set, but still the fish was master of the situation. All arts had been .tried, but the enemy,, was; $ooi wary. ", Mr Wood had' held his rod and kept his tackle fast for ten and a half hours, but j the work proved two much for him, and he relinquished his, rod, with great reluctance, into the' hands of Mr K. Bower, in order to allow, of a little .repose. Subsequently, Mr W,ood got the rod into his hand again that he mighty nave the honor of landing him, while another party went for the clip. But all of these preparations were of no avail. , The salmon, returned; to his old, abode, and-dis-puted the victory, for long hours. . ; As gentleman after gentleman came pri the grounds in the , morning, " they, were' astounded to near that' such a contest had been going ,pn all night. At nine o'clock there was still no appearance of the fish surrendering, and several meetings of rod-fishers were held to consider what should be done/under the circumstances'. But' Master Salmon struggled manfully' and baffled all the combinations that were formed against him until 1 o'clock, when he made clear run into the stream,, the hook come oat .of his mouth with a piece. of the fish attached. For 19 hours and '4s minutes, with the exception < of i one brief hour, . did .'the salmon contend with' one' of the. keenest and best fishers in the three kingdoms, and, to the great mortification'of Mr Wood, eventually escaped. The fish was twice' or thrice seen, and by men ,well. able 1 to judge he was supposed to be about 601b weight.". ' Writing of "the' salmon" in Fishing, Mr George M.' Kelson says: — "Among writers of; considerable eminence there has' been .much difference of opinion as regards this' fish. Perhaps this is not so very surprising S "when ( we come to consider that, so late as the. year 1873, Dr Suckley, in his 'Monograph of the Genus Salmo,' asserted that 43 species of salmon ere' enumerated as members of .the fauna of North America. To show how this .group has been sedulously studied, only 18 species are retained upon the list as amended by Professors Gill and Jordan.

" According to the latest statistics, the old genus Salmo, which,' in the standard works' on angling, includes everything called by the name of 'trout' or 'salindn,' has been' ' divided into groups. The first for which the name'&jfow is retained includes the Atlantic salmon and the black : spotted species of the West,' together "with several breeds of trouti which, " perhaps, I need not mention. The* second group relates more particularly to char, salmon trout, and lake trout. *' '""']' 1 " Regarding their migration, it is unknown in, the present day how far beyond the' Arctic, Circle salmon' are found, though their presence in Norway, Sweden, Northern Scandinavia and Middle Labrador is a well estabi lishedfact., ' " One of the most interesting portions of the nistory of this fish is connected with the 'modern, attempts which have been made to 1 propagate it by artificial' means. „ Sometimes the roe, shed spontaneously 'on the beds of , !svera, f haXiJeeri. collected for the purpose, fetod aometimies' It has 'been obtained bypres. 1

singjit from"the'li^'gfish f tirems'elves, Ji It is' undoubtedly ' v by '■ \ this in^ans ' ' that - several rivers which" hay been^obstructed,' spoilt by" pollution of'oyer jnetted/and thus fobbed of" thjeif native inhabitants, h&ye recovered even' * mo?eV than" they' h'aTre 'lost.' ? In* addition to' th'isj'by'thes.e'e^peiiments .we have' acquired of -late years' "a "considerable- amount : Vf" knowledge!', of 'the of ''these fish of which we were before altogether ignorant. ' 1 »" The Value set dn'the : salmohin' this country ' as f d f 6'd, whether'in a fresh' or dried' condition, has' always" been considerable; * But, judging' lrpm'the r petition' lb f6rt>id the catchihg'of fry in the Thames for feedingpigs, :: and also; -that no 'salmon should' be caught 1 in winter between' 'Qraveseii'd 1 and ; Henley bridge, our' ancestors 1 could^Kave formed' but a vague idpa^'df what the; fish yinHhese days<wbuld cost." The concluding* words in r the" petition which c ' was presented to the s Crown 'iir the fiftieth year ofEdwatd^lll'.'rati :' 'Then all your people repairing to , London, or bordering theriver/shall buy as" good .a salmon for tiwo shillings as they now get for ten.' " WHAT ( CODFISH' WILL SWALLOW. ; Last Saturday evening, at ' the regular meeting >of f Biological Society 'held at the U. S. Natiorial Museum in- this city, Capt. J. W. Collins,* ,the scientific skipper of the U. S. Fishery Commission, exhibited a collection of curios which had been' taken' from the stomachs * of codfish at sundry times while being split" and dressed by the bank fisherman,' off' Newfoundland," the process usually taking place on deck. ■ Among the lot were 'a splitting knife with a wooden handle and blade six inches long, a small brass-handled knife of quaint workmanship, a rough piece of red granite weighing three or four pounds, an old felt hat, two counters arid part of a euchre deck (five cards), a fragment several inches- long which the ,scientists though was lignite, and a brass lampl'' ' * Talk about the gorge of an ostrich 1 It isn't a circumstance in comparison. There is an undercurrent of whisper thatthe lamp fell overboard while lighted and was swallowed and fed for a time with cod liver oii, but that the supply failing, it went out arid left the i stomach of the cod in gloom, with a general feeling of goneness about the diaphram. With regard to the so-called lignite, it' is more probably a fragment of charred wood which fell overboard ' from some vessel and* became heavy with the salt of the ocean, it being the habit of the fishermen to make wood fires on deck in large tubs filled 'with' sand. — Charles Hallock, in American Angler. SOME FACTS ABOUT FISH. The Washington (D.C.) Star, quoting the "Bulletin of the' United- States Fish Commission," states, on the authority of Colonel M. M 'Donald, that the total distribution of shad fry for. the season of 1886 amounted to over 90,000,000.'- As the entire number of shad taken for market is somethings less than 6,000,000, it will be seen that for every shad taken from the • waters this ■ season for market,' there have been artificially hatched and returned to the waters, 15 young shad. Assuming that the entire cost of production and distribution has been 20,000d0l (and it will not exceed this), ' the young fish have been produced . and . distributed over the entire United- States at the rate of about 215d0l for (1,000,000, or about 46 fry for lc. Another interesting fact to note .is that for tHe entire time .up to and including 1882 there were produced 200,000,000 young shad ; while for 1886 alone the total was over 96,000,000.-. This' indicates, that we are certainly getting to a point where the iwork may be regarded as. profitable from a commercial standpoint.

' | An! extract from the last 1 report of the Wellington and Wairarapa- Acclimatisation Sooiety.says the authorities of.-New Zealand haveisent to Americaifor the ova of .the laudlocked salmon, the rainbow or California trout, the .whitefish; and a fresh stock of the brook trout. ■ During . 1880 and 1881 about 77,0 of the American brook trout were distributed among three of the rivers (of New Zealand: !No result has as yet been reported from these ; but the adult fish in the care of the Acclimatisation Society have done - remarkably well, and produce a large quantity of ova, which, in spite of several mishaps, has resulted.iri' about 2500 fry being placed in a race. It is intended to keep the most of these fry until they are yearlings, and thus replenish the stock of parent fish" A number of the American catfish were originally imported into Auckland from America in 1879, arid they are now abundant in St. John's Lake and other waters. Since' 1875 nearly 10,000 fry of the California salmon have been distributed to such localities about the •islands as seemed most suitable for the acclimatisation and growth of this species. - Max yon dem Borne writes from Berneuchen, Germany, on September 23,. 1886, stating that ,on that day he had caught 810. i little catfish, which were the young of those sent over by .the U. S, Fish Commission in July 1885%

The annual dinner of the American Carp Culture Association, whose headquarters is at 44 North Fourth street, Philadelphia, was held October 14.- i Concerning it, the secretary states :— " The caterer * carried out our instructions to the, letter, an£ the result was that a select party of acknowledged^picures not only tasted but ate several pounds of carp without condiments ,or seasoning of any description whatever. The verdict seemed 'to ,'be unanimous-, that carp raised and, treated ■ according to, the, system . prevailing in. this region is a first-class food i fish, excelled only by the Salmo?iid(e and superior to the domestic trout,, After some years of experience we know, that the flavour of the carp depends upon the quality of the water they are in and the quality of the food they consume for two or three weeks prior to being served at the" table and also upon the method of their death: If they are taken directly from a muddy pond and allowed to smother and die a lingering death, the flavour will certainly be a " trifle strong." ''.If, on the other 'hand, they are taken from their ponds two or three weeks before coming to the table, and placed 1 in clean water which undergoes constant change, and are fed on t

\*i-

'clean, cooked r vegetable ; foddfialinoß' any grain, or on bread, their flaYOuf .fßll'be second 'bnly to the salmon fatnily, certainly, fully, -'equal ,tp"the far-famed shad -but they should, ', be killed by thorough bleeding, immediately ■ upon being taken from the water ."—American Angler. /!ii..? ;/ ", \\\ »;; Wf: