A DESCRIPTION of the NURSERIES of the GOLDEN SPECKLED TROUT.

Otago Witness, Issue 1880, 2 December 1887, Page 9

A DESCRIPTION of the NURSERIES of the GOLDEN SPECKLED TROUT.

By Jock Scott. Having been informed by the Railway department that they intend running an excursion train to Clinton early next month to give Dunedin folk and others living aloDg the line an opportunity of inspecting the salmon and trout hatcheries at Clinton, I have interviewed the managers of the hatcheries at Clinton and Opoho,. with a view of giving intending excursionists a short sketch of both these interesting places. The Clinton hatcheries are situated on a branch, of the Waiwera river, called Marshall's creek. The society own 43 acres in all, and have built a very neat five-roomed house for the manager, Ranger Burt, to reside in. The place is eminently situated for what we may call the stud farm for the various species of sahnonidse that are bred and reared there, and is about one mile and a-half to two miles this side of Clinton. To show that there is no fear of the water supply failing, during the excessive hot weather of 1885 there was more j than enough water to supply all the hatchinghouses, ponds, and races; while, at the same { time, larger creeks than this in other parts of the district were quite dry. Ranger Burt informs me that he has been in possession tor not quite two years, and in that time he has constructed a large race 20 chains long. This is to bring the water from the creek to what we shaU call Lochleven pond, which is 130 ft long, and from 2ft to sft deep. In this pond he has a magnificent lot of Loch Leven trout, 300 in number.

This is the lot that were so successfully brought out from Scotland in 1884 by Mr P. S. Stoddart, of this city. They arc thriving so well that some of them would turn the scale at 2Mb. To see these fish feeding is alone worth a visit. They are noted a? 5 being splendid fish to rise, but when a handful of grated liver is thrown to them, they ]ust make tho water fairly boil in their eagerness to secure a share of the dainty morsels. The overflow from pond No. 5 goes with a rush over a small embankment into the salmon pond, which is over 100 ft long and as deep as tba Loch Leven pond. In it there are 0000 two-year-old English salmon, and some of them have now assumed their smolt livery, and are ready to go to sea, .and a great number of them will very likely get their liberty in April or May. Pond No. 3 is occupied by the large salmon brought out by Mr Farr three years ago, and the society decided to keep 150 for the purpose of experiment to see if they could interbreed them and get a landlocked salmon. They are the sole occupants of this pond, which is 136 ft long, 12ft wide, and 6ft deep all over. Since they have been in this large pond their growth has been wonderful, and Mr Burt is sure he will be able to show visitors true British salmon quite 18in in length. We wait here and see them feed.

• Let qb go nearer, but with cautiori. $aj- wha# I flash was that across the pool? So swiit £ti& i sudden that it aeemed to begin and end at i once. It sped" like a silver arrow across our tfae of sight, but it was not a silver arrow. It I tfdl only a real British salvioit going at the rate of 90 HifleS an hour to seize that dajnty morsel j that Manager Btjft hM just thrown into the far corner of the irool. The strong, wild ruahes that this fish is capable of making when hooked is well described in that stirring poem of Thos. Tod Stoddart'gj the noted Scotch angler". A birr! a whirr! tbs salmon's ous, j Far on the rushing river, He storms the stream with rago of mighfc, | And like a brandish'd swerd of light H oils, flashing o'er the stfrges white, A desperate endeavdur.- _ j Hark to the music of the reel !- The fitful and the grating ! It pants along the breathless wheel, Now hurried, now abating. J Pond No. 4 is stocked with 230 Scotch burn trout, the little golden spotted fish that nearly all Scotchmen have guddl'ed and fished for in the days of their youth. They can.be seen here to perfection, for the water and climfate seems to agree well with them ; most of them will weigh over |lb. They are splendid feeders, and are not in the least shy of visitors. If the day is an} thing like clear almost every fish can be seen, and visitors are reluctant to pass on, but stand and watch their antics. They are such | frisky little fellows, and appear to be having one long perpetual picnic. ! Pleasure and ease, j Together mixedSweet recreation. Pond No. 5 is tenonted by a rather large family of yearling Loch Levens— 43o in all. These fish are 4in or sin in length, and are in splendid condition. Pond No. 6 has the American brook trout (Salmo fontinalis) located in it. These are the handsomest fish in the place, and give to anglers nearly as much sport as a salmon trout. Close by pond No. 6 is a large round pool, in which there are 100 of the largest Loch Leven yearling trout, which are being reserved to replenish the present spawning fish. At the back of the hatching house there are two more circular ponds, one of which contains 18 beautif al golden carp. Tho other is used as a settling pond, and supplies the large hatching house. In front of the hatchery there is a large square pond in which there is a large lot of perch ova hatching, and up to the present doing well. Besides all these tenanted ponds there are also three large ponds and two classing ponds, none of which, however, are occupied as yet. "Wo now come to the races of these. There are 6even, each of which is oyer 100 ft long ; these are all filled with young salmon — 130,000,— some of them 2in in length. They are growing fast and feeding well, and when the salmon in No. 2 pondaro liberated those in the races will be drafted off into the pond, where they will have a better chance of growing. We now come to the hatchery. This is 12ft- wide and 48ft long ; it contains seven rows of boxes, six in each row. There are also two of the Williamson patent boxes. It is one of the prettiest sights imaginable to see the water clear as crystal passing from one box to another in a series of small cascades, and when the curious visitor looks into these boxes he is perfectly amazed to see the thousands of littln black-specked fish darting hither and thither in search of the small particles of grated liver on which they are fed. Some folks have queer ideas as to how fish are reared, and it sometimes puzzles Mr Burt to answer some of the questions put to him. One old lady innocently asked him one day if the parent fish sat on the eggs and hatched them in the same manner as a hen would ; while another wanted to know how long it took him to gather them out of the nests the fishes laid them in. They cannot at all understand that by simply placing the eggs in the gravel and allowing the water to gently flow over them they will ultimately hatch out into fish. This, however, is all that is required : but the water must be clear, and also in motion if good healthy fry are to be the result. Everything favourable, the eggs require from 60 to 75 days to hatch out. In the hatching-house there are 50,000 healthy Loch Leven fry, 800 Scotch burn fry, and 100,000 common brown trout fry, all swimming about as lively as kittens. The society*havc also received from Taranaki a shipment of small green frogs ; these are located on a small piece of marshy land on one corner of the property. They will, in course of time when they multiply, be used to feed some of the larger species of trout, who are amazingly fond of them. * We will now come nearer home, and take a look at the Opoho property. This is situated right at the top of the valley running up from the head of Pelichet Bay. But before I give a description of the ponds, &c, used in the hatching and rearing of the various species of salmonidro, it perhaps would not be out of place to give a short sketch of the past history of the Otago Acclimatisation Society. The society was founded about the year 1864, and for the first four or live years its operations wore confined entirely to the introduction of birds and animals, the most valuable of which were pheasants, deer, hares, and Angora goats. Although the latter have not become plentiful, I believe some of their progeny are still in existence. But it was not until the year 1868 that the society launched into the attempt to introduce any of the finny tribe. In that and the succeeding year they despatched thsir curator (Mr G. P. Clifford) to Tasmania for shipments of brown trout ova. These fish have been thoroughly acclimatised there. The result of this undertaking was a complete success, and in 1573 the society were able to procure ova from their own streams. Year by year their work in this Hue increased, and in 18S4 the number of ova collected in the season was close on 250,000. Hitherto tho society had been conducting its operations on the private pro- * nerty of Mr Job Wain, who very generously extended the &aine privilege to the society as the former owners, Captain J. T. Boyd and Mr Allan Holmes. It was now found necessary to enlarge the hatching accommodation, and it AVa*: decided to purchase a freehold in the vicinity o.f Dunedin, a spot on the same creek, but a few chums higher up, bfing selected and eventually pui chased from Mr Black. This property contains closo on five acres, and is apparently a most {.uitaVile place for tho purpose. It is a very romantic spot, the major portion being in its natural state and covered with native but.h. The water is" of the very beet quality, but rather limited. CThe society have erected a substantial seven-roomed dwellinghouse, constructed two ponds 50ft by 20ft, four races GOft to 70ft long, a settling po.nd, ami two hatching-houses capable of hatchnii! 250,000 ova as ono time. Pond No. 1 contains -10 brook trout, tho American variefj (Saltnofodii.ialis). This pond is covered entirely by wjre netting to prevent kingfishers making a raid on tho iish. The overflow from this pond is conducted into pond No. 2, in which there are at present 50 perch, taken from the reservoir when they were clean ing it out la6t year. They are fine and healthy, and yielded a good supply of spawn this season. We next visitad the races. No. 1 is tenanted by about 400 one-year-old American brook trout ; No. 2 contains Rhine salmon ; No. 3, golden carp ; and No. 4, Rhine trout— all in splendid condition.

Ko/1 hatching-house contains J50.000 brown j front,- brook trout, and salmon fry f while No. 2 ' lias 100,000 common brown trout in fo These haMitig r ~iwußes are situated right in arowag thenative btfifll/and on the hottest day of sCMwaeir are as cool s£ *» fce-horae. The whole ox *■*» property is encfcs«<J by a substantial barb^uwire fence. As showing the increase in the operations of the society, I may mention Bfcerß the quantity of ova collected by the officers of the society during this oeason was upwards of 430;880; _ inconsiderable revenue was at one time derived from the eale of ova, but of Jate years sale* have* fallen off considerably. This society has,' bow on hand 11 varieties of fisb, which I have fitr _ doubt will one day afford good sport to out local knights of the rod. The society has also established four kinds of deer, and introduced about 30 varieties of birds, Bfesides other animals, I am almost afraid to refer" to the' rabbit for fear of rousing the ire of our squatters ;• but I do not think they can Jay that peat to the doof of this society, for I have it on the beat authority that rabbits were introduced into the colony long 1 before the soeiet j was in existence. I I understand the society nave a large number of !tj on hand ready for distribution, and thafc quite rec**)fcly about 100,000 young salmon- were removed frb&- Opoho to the top water* of the* Aparima, and iff- speaks volumes for the care and skill of Mr DWna and his assistants when we take into consideration the many obstacles to be overcome in transporting such a large quantity of fish to such a disfeace that the loss in transportation was only 1 per" <&ak