ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2302, 14 April 1898, Page 38

ANGLING.

By Jock Scott.

J To be a perfect fisherman you require more excellencies t\\Au J man's carcass. — Packer Uii.moup.. i Rgidere are invited to contribute items of local fl^hin? news j for insertion In this column. For insertion in the cusuiUi issue j thej- should reach Dunedin by H'>n<ta.y night's mail. | BAKE NOTES. \ ' , ' It was my intension to close the column { for the season with this issue, but knowing that | many anglers we^re not yet returned to town from their Easter outing, I think it better to extend the column another week. I have on previous occasions had individual takes for the season se&b in, and in order to give anyone an opportunity of doing this is another season why I have thought it best to extend the column another issue. Anglers will please note this, and if they have anything they wish to be recorded forward it so that it may reach rae not later than Monday night. I "will take an opportunity in this issue of thanking my coueespondentff-, who are, I am pleased to say, increasing in number every year. To about half a, dozen I can hardly adequately express my thanks for the indefatigable zeal they have displayed in forwarding information with unflagging regularity ; and many others, though they have not corns up to the same standard, have supplied valuable data on whit-h I could base my reports. I thack one and all, and shall try and look some of them up during the close season. I may mention that I received a visit during the Jubilee from one of them, and was extremely pleased to see-him and to make his acquaintance. Since my visit to the Owaka 1 have" not handled a, rod till Easter Monday, when I went out. to the Tomaha-wk Lagoon to ■ try and get a few perch, I found a number of I other anglers there, bub, like my3elf, they did not geira fish — not even a rise. Spearing Teout : Exbmplaby Finfs, — Under theae headiags a. Southland newspaper publishes the following •. — "At the Magistrate's Court at Obautau, Michael' Prendeville, Ernest B'Airf], and James Deans were charged, on the information of George Gorton, with using spears on the 13th ulb. in the Aparima River, near Avondale, for the purpose of taking troub, contrary to the fishing regulations. The accused pleaded guilty. Mr Russell appeared for the informant, instructed by tber Southland Acclimatisation Society, and stated tha-h in consequencs of repeated' complaints regarding the poaching carried on in the locality the society had been at great expense in detecting and bringing the accused before the oonrt; ; that ab least one, if nois all, of the accused had been seen by the informant on. two occasions spearing treuti during- the fortnight preceding the date alleged, but for good reasons was nob then interfered with ; that on the date alleged the accused on observing- the Informant made off,, relieving themselves oir their boots to assish their flight;, smd were only overtaken after a hard chase of a mile, -the jnfor.inauti and his. assistant being handicapped hi iisvTioar to foetf the t'ws in jmcsuU* £h«

a accused had cut, off the barbs of their spears, , and thrown them into high fUx where they a could nob be found, but their bag containing y nine trout had been found, and some of the " fish were in oourt. Mr Russell hoped the £ court would not deal leniently with an offence a of the kind. The magistrate remarked that it ', was not one of the minor offences provided y against in the regulations, but a, serious one, s and that the society in stocking the rivers and ■- protecting the fi?h were acting in the public a interest. A fine of £5 each was inflicted, with s costs £1 193 6d in each c&se." — I only hope 1 o'her magistrates will follow suit, and not mcc flict paltry penalties, — J. S, h " v w The Sketch o£ January 19 contains the 0 following relative to New Zealand; — < i! i'be British aDgler is enabled wherever F&ls tn&y .1 set him down to meet with the trout, and it is r really remarkable how readily that meritorious a fish accommodates himself <jo foreign waters, c With the aid oi Governors of piscatorial tastes - the angling brotherhood Jiav.j nrraly established s t-he trout and to sotoe exifint Hv. s^mon in New ZeaKi <i waters, *nd the contemplative man ? during the last two ut r\>;vf jears has been able a to enjoy sporb with the trou'u bred in the cplony, y catching them up to 21b weight and over." Big Lake Teout. — The days of big trout for c Lake Wakatipu tave departed — in fact netting .- lessees are thankful for five and six pounders. v Not so, however, otir other lakes. Lately we 3 recorded the fact of a large trbut having been 1 caught in Lake Wanaka, aud on a 1 recent Frib day a female trout was caught .by Messrs c White Bros, in Lake Hayes, its length being a 36 1n, giith 23in, and' weight 251b. It has been forwarded on by Mr Bkck, Lake County a clerk, to be shown, if possible, in the Jubilee l Exhibition, Dunedin. — Lake Wakatipu. Mail. f • . * Now then,' all who believe in dreams f listen attentively: — ' { A few days ago Me Cl*rk, postmaster of Kidderminster, who baa , for many years been a disciple of Iziak l Walton, obtained permission of Mr Jobaon to i fish for pike in Hurcott Pool. His companion , was Mr Frank Stone, son of Mr J. E. Stone, of b Land Oak, and Mr Lewis, the keeper, wag also I.' present. Before the Hues were thrown into the » j water, Mr Lewis made a singular remark, , | which was very soon literally fulfilled. He told l 1 Mr Clark that his wife had dreamt on the prei | vious night that the largest pike ever caught in • ) the pool had been captured by the two visitors, : ! and he confidently tofd Mr Clark that the dream . would be fulfilled. Mr Clark smilingly remarked ! that he was not a belie fer in dreams, to which i Mr Lsivis replied, •Ah ! well, we shall gee.' Tho ■ lines evere thrown out, and Mr Clark pulled out a l few traxll fish, and then caught one serera i pouncta ia weight. Mr Sfcohe, who is not an i experienced pike fiaher, hid many runs, bub i did nob succeed in hooking si fish. Mr Clark ' f gave him instructions how to throw out his bait propfcrlr, and in a few minutes Mr Stcne had anotner run, and in this c?se hocked his fish, s J.t was at once evident thai a lirge and 1 power ful pike had been hooked. I a a. few i t m\:.a h e-i this became further evident by the ■ j sxu:u»ter coming to the surface of the water for | an. iastant and then disappearing. It required skilful manipulation to keep the fish under : control, and a considerable period to overpower and land it into the boat. The prize was something to be proud of, for it measured 45in in ' ]v;i!gtU and vseighfscl ju«t over 261b. This was | the Lour of Mr Lowis's triumph. Looking at > I the nth and then a!j Mr Clark he said, '.There, ■ i you see; thab in. the largest fish I have.e«er ■ ] seen taken out of Hurcott Pool.' The nsjMKs ■ j been gent to London to be set up, Now. Irap, • S get your vsivej, sweethearts, sisters, or aunts to i j dream about big fish, ar.d then you will be.able . ( tj beat the record " — Home exchange. 1 V The Parisian auglei- " Halcyon "is respnnj sibie for the following :—": — " Ifc is really astonishj ing to think of the luck, c-f good fortune, or ; whatever else you like to call it, that absolutely J feoms to tumble en to some individuals. My J fiend Mr Thomas, of Ley ton, in Essex, gave !mo an exemplification of thia the other day. It I aopears that he was fishing on Lord Windsor's | v/atars near Hewell, in cpmpany with a FreuchS man, whose greatest achievement in the gentle ! art consisted in catching fbh oi gudgeon size in the river Seine, or shooting sparrows. He got hold of a jxout of a pound weight, and, so my informant states, was absolutely frightened. He throw down the rod and listened to the reel making that sweet music so dear to the | angler's ear. When the line ceased to run he , j took hold of it with his hand, the rod still t lying on the bank, and he carefully drew it in, ■ frantically, hand over hand. Eventually the fi*h came to the net, and then the Parisian angler's joy was indescribable. On the week following, fishing on the Warwickshire Avon, he hooked a email jack o? perhaps a couple oi pounds. He instantly shouldered his rod and ; m.arched proudly up into the field behind him. He landed the fiah, bub upon once more laying down his rod and rushing towards it, 'Esox Lucius ' thought otherwise, disengaged himself from the hooks, and slid back into his native element, just as the disappointed fisherman reached him." A Quses- Capture. — As a friend of mine was out bicycling near Newark recently with two Ichh terriers the degs disturbed * large pike up a backwater from the Trect, and as it darted past one of the terriera the dog made a grab and pulled out the. pike, which, on being measured was .found to be 28in long. Unfortunately it was not weighed. — The Field. Salmon and Poupoise. — " J. E. 5.," in the Field, in narrating the tale of the porpoise and salmon as told him by the Budleigh Salterton fishermen, apparently looks upon ib as a very unusual circumstance for a porpoise to attack a salmon. II; is, however, I believe, a common occurrence. I think I remember reading in the Field some years ago of two salmon being found entire in one porpoise. They do a good deal of mischief in the estuaries of salmon rivers in. searing the fish. They sometimes collect; in the estuary of the Severn for the purpose of intersecting the salmon on their way up the river, and when this is the case they will stop the salmon runnibg, as" the fi3h will not faca them. The action of~the " monster," whatever it was, as describes in "getting itf nose under the salmon and tlingiDg ib upwards, for the sajse of playir«g with it as a cat does a mouse, or of cafchiDg it conveniently for -swallowing, 1 ' scunds a bit romantic. I expect there would not be much playing if Mr Porpoise got a fair grab of the fish, and the salmon was probably leaping out of the water for the purpose of escaping the pursuit of the porpoise. In Jane 1886 I killed with the rod a fresh-run salmon of 181b in the Vei:niew, a tributary of the Severn, and this fiah had evidently been chased and bitten by a porpoise. There was a very rough gash on either, side of, ths fish, which was nearly healed, and it was jast such -as the mouth of a porpoise might have made. Ib was a very handsome fish, and none the worse apparently in condition for the ugly wound across the back that the porpoise had made.— Alfred Cecrge. Many years since I resided at Budleigh Salterton, and I was a- witness of a aimilar occurrence- to-th&£ I described by "J. B S." I had. been for a few hours' cruise, and was runrrinrg for the beaoh I abreasb of the spot known as Baker's Line End, ! when a number o£ porpoises coming from the i eastward crossed the wake of my boat at aboub '20 yard* distant at a. gce*t( mw&* Suddeuis. %

, fish was thrown into the air with.such force that r it did not fall into the water before traversing * f distance of about ,60££. and 'gb/nea'rj that I was s able to recognise a wrasse, rock fish, or curner ; (the local name)' from l£lb to 21b weight. It s seems probable that Pearcy and Hill are right i in their, opinion that the attack they witnessed i on the salmon w*s made by a porpoise. — J. O. , Wilcocks. It eeerna to be of common occurL reuce that porpoises when chasing salmon in the j estuaries by come means throw the fish clear out; i of tha water, and apparently catch them again s in their mouths. In Fowey Harbour this is • noticed every year, when there are s, good number of salmon waiting for a freshet to i ascend the small river. I know of many fishers • aien who have noticed this, and the opinion 1 J a*»ong them is that the object of the porpoise is i f to jet »• scsjye secure hold of the fish before I swallowing it. — Robert Pease (Castle; Losfc- , withiel, Cornwall, September 25).— The Field.