BANK NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2199, 23 April 1896, Page 34

BANK NOTES.

* . * The Tapanui Courier reports that Mr A. Mason in six days secured 100 trout from the Pomahftka, some ranging up to 31b in weight. Messrs Jameson, in three days last week, caught 42 trout weighing altogether 951b. ' .• The Cromwell Argus reports that Mr William Rankin landed from the Clutha river a tront weighing 14£lb • . • The Waitaki Acclimatisation Society is to receive 19,000 of the Kaikourn's shipment of salmon ova. ' , ' The following are the takes of some of the anglers for the sea; on just closed :— Mr G. Bruce, 106 fish, total weight sHlb, with an average of a fraction over 51b per fish ; Mr W. Bvnce, 111 fish, the total wtigb.t being 6051b, with an average cf s£lb. These were captured from the Waitaki Kiver. Mr J. Mitchell h»e, we believe, put up a record, having totalled 348 fitib from the Waitaki and Kakanui Rivers. Mr John Oliver also got a goodly number of 149 trout, taken principally from the Eakanui. — Oamaru Mail. • . ' At Blacks three youßg men were charged with poaching in Spottis creek. Constable Leece had found them in the water, where they said they were 6shiog for eel«, but as a short distance away a bag containing come 82 trout was found, proce o dirigß were taken. The yoimg men denied all knowledge of the tioufc, but stated that they had seen three men at a distance, who ran away on the constable's approach. Two small boys declared they also bad ieen the men, but a g'rl vtith two children who was on the scene declared she bad eeen no men. As there was a possibility of someone other than the acensed having caught the trout the magistrate dismissed the case. • . * A most amusing " Treatyse on Piscators from MSS. discovered in an old grandmother's clock, by I'Drywa?," has come under my notice, and I propose to give some extracts therefrom. In apes king of the contemplative nature of "ye pwcator," the "treatyse" says : — " Fyeshynge is the contemplative man's recreation, and you are to know it is justly styled i contemplative by reason, that the piscators 1 spend their happy lives in contemplating their floats and their own virtues, whereof they have exceeding abundance." Referring to patietce, it s&ys :—": — " Of all men, pisca'.ors are the most po.sessed of that fine quality of a noble mind, yclept patience ; concerning which it may be averred that they will oftentimes eit for dayf acd weeks, like unto the ancient Egyptians meditating by the waters of the sacred Nile, •olemnly watching their Seats, lest p?r&dventure they quiver or disappear at an inopportune moment, and io the piscatorial inspiration be converted unto scorn." I think eooaehow that " that line quality of a coble mind" is not by any means universal among Otago anglers, for, to epeak mildly, I have mere than once heard grunts and growls of anything bufc an amiable character proceed from the exasperated arglsr who for the sixth time has fallen foal of an old mattres?, a camp oven, or a dead dog in the Leith. En passant, I remember a gent'eman telliDg me that he got fast in a portion of a mattress in the Leith on one occasion, which after much gentle hauling and persuasion he brought aehore, and from that mattrrss he got enough tackle to ke-p him goirg for a long ! time. Moral : It'n an ill wind that blows nobody good. But to continue, and the next attribute of "j c piscator " follows my remarks with singular appropriateness, coming uodSßt the head of "Ye sweet tempter of piscators." "... And no piarator hath ever been heard to nee an ungentle expression or wicked word ; and if he should — which once in a blue moon mayhap fall to his lol — suffer f uoh misfortune as to lo3eany portion of his tackle, or indeed catch nothing, he softly snith unto himself, • Ab, well ! | Never nvnd 1 Better luck next time.' And trilling forth bis simple lay goeth be oa- his way contented The The cbiefest idiosyncrasy of piacators is like to be their never-failing hope. When, peradventure, they bave suffered a blank — that is, during the time when the blue moon aforesaid may be at the full — they forthwith determine to tiy again early the next day to make amends for the same, thinking good luck truly cometh »fter bad. . . . They ars verily the most un- ' selfish of sportsmen. If a pisoator knoweth of , •, good pl&ce whereto he nisy repair for excellent fair sport, te as quickly as may be after the rising ff the sun ttlleth everyone who fisbekh bttter than himself how he may get there ; and if there be a sbeet at hand for the purveying of news, he publisheth full particulars concerning ! the same. If it were net for this philanthropy of unselfishness, this passionate desire to do good to his brethren whom he loveth, no piecator would ever communicate to another an j thing concerning himtelf, nor would any person ever see anything of his-fish ; for at heart he is the most modest and unasmining creature in the. world, and anything which seemeth to savour of publicity or oitentation hurteth his sensitive nature. Another peculiarity of pitcators is tbat everyone imagineth that he oan nth better than every ether, and in that opirit which cometh of a feeling — though unexpressed — of superiority, he continually eisayeth to teach his leis skilled brethren how to do it. And such the consequence is, that they all appear to ba masters without there being scarcely any disciples in the craft of piseaton&ifb Indeed, the only chgutoe

a piscator hath with r disciple is to catch one of the nature of a greenhorn, who kaoweth not t^e difference between the individnal at^one end of the pole and the individual at the other end, and then — for a limited season only — as an apostle he is listened to reverently ; but the disciple is t*ught so cunningly, and so ingenious is he in takiDg uuto his underdtandiog the seorets of the cr*ft, that he soon beo<.>meth superior to the master by catching more fiah than he; and then he in his. turn baginneth to teach others." The next paragraph I most heartily commend to the earnest and careful consideration of those who go a fishing. "Piscators be the only really gentle and honest men in the world, as they may bs reckoned the only truthful men. The only sure chance an ordinary common man, or indeed a really sinful one, hath in becoming good is to get to be a piscator. He cannot help himself after that, and however much he may have previcu-ly been given to delivering his speech of untrue thiogs, when once he hath become a piscator he nil], rather than bear the thame of Leing thought to say the thing which is not true, or stretch the long bow, or fake up a chestnut, uudervalne everything he doeth, except there ba the good object of teaching the Philintines before him ; and then he h«th a sacred duty to perform, which muet ba done, and he then forthwith obligeth himself with conscientious misgiving and searching of heart to do the same. Every piscator is an enthusiast, and rcvelleth in the joy of his craft, even unto the exclusion of all other interests of life. What careth he for the figures of 11J 1 per yard, or 2s d per lb ; or the grovelling difference between a debit and a credit ; or the false glamour of prices on 'Change, the warnings of his too careful wife, and the uneeemly pu'ing of his unruly offspring. You must observe, t<o, that whereas thny in ancient times consorted together in their clubhouses to encourage one another in sundry vain and frivolous amusements, such as games of ' Tommy Dodd,' « Flutter,' « Odd Man Oat,' wherein a coin was made with but poor skill to epin into the air and fall again into the fist ; and to raise their voices io ribald choruses and shouts of Bacchanalian joy, the while they seasoned their brawling with deep potations of maddening pobuto-«piiit> and the expression of salted hops, solemnly and oftime* winking at and addressing one another in their shibboleth ' sho long,' •eresluck,' » whatcherarry,' 'thiihallrigh>-,' now we rejoice that all is so changed. . . . . My discourse now cometh to a close, with thankfulness that I myself am a humble piecator, and therefore well able to show ihe world that the craft containeth a light worthy, commendable, gentle, learned, ingenious, class of men, who in no way deserve the censure nor the pity of the other portion of mankind, who thereby are only made verily the more vain in their own conceit. All hail to the orafb of piscators !"

* . * Some years ago the American cat fish were introduced into some lakes in the Waikato district, and in one instance — that cf Mr Deville's lake at Ohaupo— they have thriven and multiplied exceedingly. They ara, however, small, not measuring the b'ggesb among them over 9in in length. Th«y only bite at night, but as many as 12 have been caught in the space of an hour. They are very nice eating, though nob pretby to look at. '