BANK NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2303, 21 April 1898, Page 38

BANK NOTES.

Anglers 'visiting the Industrial Exhibition should have a 'look at a case of flies tied by the Mis&es Buchan, of this city. They range from large salmon flies down to the smallest size used for trout, and are excellently made.

The Leith.— On Thursday Mr J. D. Moultray fished the upper reaches of the Water of Leith and took 4 fish on the worm, losing one fish that would have gone about 31b. Mr Dalgleish, who accompanied him, caught 3 fish. Mr R. Henry tried his luck in the river on Easter Monday, and caught 10 trout on the fly. He started at the paper mills and fished to above the Falls. All the fish caught were small.

Abthuhton, April 18.— The fishing season jusfc closed has been remarkable in this locality for being stormy and cold. During the months of November and December it blew almost a coiitinuous gale of wind, and right through the season it was difficult to strike what could be called a good fishing day. Still the Waipahi has afforded good sport, and a lot of splendid trout have been caught, and, what is better still, there are any quantity left. Mr Harrison, of Pukerau, fishing the Gorge waters the last day of the season, informed me that he rose large numbei's of big trout to the artificia 1 minnow, but only got 1 fish to grass. This angler's record for the season is over 200 fish. — J.R.S.

The Waitati. — This little stream was visited by Mr R. Henry on Good Friday, when he took 18 fish with the fly. Mr S. • M'Donald and his son were successful, taking i' 37 trout between them with the blaokfellow. The largest fish taken was about a pound in weight.

The Kakaxtti. — Messrs J. H. Lambert, J. Lambert, and S. Prout fished the Kakanui River on God Friday, and met with very poor luck, only getting one fish among them. They found the river very loir- and clear and still dammed at the mouth. Large numbers of trout were seen, but were not to be lured with anything. The Waitahtjna. — Mr R. Coghill spent a week at the Waitahuna at Easter, and took 30 fish, the largest of which was barely a pound in weight. The fish were caught principally with the Jessie.

The Waiwera and Pojiahak-i. — Mr J. Hagen, of the North Taieri, so I am told, spent a week at Easter at the Waiwera and Pomahaka Rivers, and secured about 60 fish. I am unable to give any further particulars. The Kuriwao. — I am informed that Mr Moffat, fishing the upper waters of this stream on .Friday, made a basket of 34 trout, a good portion being over a pound in weight. I believe nine of them were over the pound. Competition. — The final competition of the season was fished on Good Friday, and was ,won by Mr James Mitchell, of Mataura, with a basket of 17 fish, weighing 141b. Mr Mitchell fished the Wairikiki, and sends a note in which he states that the rivers in the district are very low and clear and terribly fished. Tbe only other competitor out of the nine who entered to- weigh in was Mr P Aitlcen. who took 7 fisli weighing 111b from the Pomahaka. The competition was what i* known as Hospital Day Competition, the fish being sent to that institution for the benefit of its inmates, but on this occasion an equal division of 24 fish of varying sizes among the 100 inmates would, I should think, be a difficult matter. If the other seven competitors caught anything at all I think it is much to be regretted that they did not send the fish in. What does it matter if a man at time? comes at the bottom of the list. In fishing it is very imich oftener a want of luck than a want of skill to be in such a position, and it is certainly no disgrace 1 think my{self some stringent rule is Avanted for Benevolent and Hospital Days, by which every competitor is bound, under penalty of disqualification or something in the same direction, to send in a return even if he has caught nothing. The fish directly they are in the basket are practically the property of one of the institutions named, and the angler would do wel l to bear this in mind. 1 would urge the Anglers' Association to take the sugges tion thrown out into consideration, and make some addition or alteration to the rules in the direction indicated. The prizes for this competition held on Good Friday were presented by Messrs J. Wilkie and Co. and W. Aitken and Son.'

Ashburton', April 14. — Jock Scott, — As 1 have kept a record of my fishing for -the last 14 or 15 years, I thought I would see if 1 could determine if the fish had deteriorated in numbers or weight. From the table I enclose, I think the fishing is as good now as at any time in the last 11 or 12 years. This year I have caught as many fish, and the average number taken on each day, the mim ber of blank days, the total weight of .the fisli taken, and the best clay's fishing all compare favourably with any year outside tbe exceptional year 1892-93, when I fished chiefly at the Rangitata and Rakaia, which, accounts for the extra size of the fish taken. In 189495 I was ill, and only fished iust about the town and only in tbe middle of the day, and usually with the fly This year we have caught many large fish in the Ashburton, and i never remember so many large fish taken in any former yea.-. On March 6 three rods took 23 fish, weighing lO7£ld. including one each of 13-Alb, ll|lb, 111b, 101b, 6ilb, 521b, and silb ; on February 6 three rods took 22 fish at the Rakaia weighing 1541b ; on December 11 and 12 four rods at the Rangitata took 51 fish averaging 31b lOoz, on the 16th and 17th 80 fish, and tfee 18th and 19th 44 fish,

and on the 25th and 2&th 30 fish— all these averaging 41b each. In the last take one rod took 13 fish, weighing 781b, one of them going 91b, another 101b, another 841b, and two of 7|lb each, the smallest being 3|lb. The reason we get such big fish at the lagoons of these rivers is that the fish run in from the sea. I have frequently taken them in the salt water and landed them in the breakers. Besides, these fish are frequently wounded, having been seized probably by sharks. The reason I put the wounded fish down to sharks is that they are gashed on both sides of the belly, being seized from underneath, and sometimes pieces are bitten dean out. The last 81b fish I took in the Ashburton about a mile from the sea, besides being scored on both sides, had a piece almost l£iu square ]}itten clean out ; and as these wounded fish are freqxienlly taken in or on the edge of the salt water the wounds coiild not be inflicted by shags or poachers, and they are always on the belly and clean cuts. 1 consider whilst we have the ocean to keep up the supply of largo fish our fishing is not likely to fall off. The number of small fish up stream is larger than ever, and I expect the fishing will be very good next year. I suppose many men never publish their takes, but from the takes recorded by you I see nothing either at Winchester or anywhere else that beats our records. If Mr 0. Nicholas, of Temuka, were to publish his takes for the past 10 years I think no one in New Zealand would come up to them, and I believe most of his large takes are make at the Rangitata. — A. H. Siltjby. '

In a footnote Mr Shury says :—": — " I have just received a letter from my sister, who has a stream with trout in it running through her ground. She says she envies me my fishing. Though at Home the trout seldom exceed 21b in weight, people are willing, and do, pay 9gs a week for the privilege of trying to catch them. I do not believe," concludes Mr Shury, " there is more than half or three-quarters of a mile of water in the ground. What would the people at Home say to o\ir fishing for £1 a year? "

The following is an analysis of trout fishing done by Mr Shury in the Ashburton, Rangitata, and Rakaia Rivers: — 2263 fish, weighing 41261b, average weight lib 13oz. * S.* 5 M "»j= "3 3 B3st Days' Fishing. £ FlO I £% °-S i* H - <H£. DAte _ No _ Wgt

Mr Shury also sends a tabulated statement of the weights of the various fish caught, which I regret I cannot find room for. It shows that he has taken 3 weighing 141b, 2 121b, 2 111b, 5 101b. 11 91b, 18 81b, 24 71b, 45 61b, 65 51b, 128 41b, 163 31b, 237 21b, and 1564 under that weight, making a grand total of 2263 fish. I must accord my best thanks to Mr Shury for his extensive report, which certainly proves him to be an expert angler and an untiring sport with the rod. — J.S.

The Northern Rivers. — An exchange says: — ''The trout-fishing season has closed. It has on the whole been a fairly satisfactory season from an angler's point of view. The snow rivers have for most of the season been in good condition, and some large takes have been made therein. Some of the rain rivers have suffered through the dryness of the season. Particularly good results have beep obtained from the Rangitata and the Oprbi, and the Waikmakariri has also given very fair returns. The Lower Selwyn has not been in as good order as in former years, owing to the want of rains last winter to scoitr out the stream and sweep away the weeds. The 'Upper Selwyn. however, has been in better condition, and fish were more plentiful there owing probably to poaching and various unsportsmanlike practices having been put a stop to by the ranger. Fish throughout the country were generally in good condition, and took the bait freely."

Tame Fish. — Managers of large aquaria could, I expect, tel us a good deal about the tameness of fkhes. I well remember accompanying Mr Lloyd, when keeper of the aquarium at the Crystal Palace, ir> a ramble " behind the scenes." The fish in every tank, even down to the small grey mullet, followed him eagerly as he walked along, " cupboard love " being possibly at the bottom of their affection. The cod were extremely tame, and, pushing their great noses out of the water, allowed themselves to be fondled by Mr Lloyd's hand. Mention of the cod reminds me of reading an account of an inlet of the sea on an. estate in Scotland, shut off artificially by means of a wall of loose rocks, in which the cod were kept until wanted for die table. They grew very tame, and came up to the bank to be fed with pieces of meat ; and such was their faith in human nature that, when the fateful hour arrived, and the gaff, adorned with a piece oi meat, was presented, the unsuspecting cod would open his jaws as visual, only to be forthwith dragged from his natural element. In Biirma it is a common spectacle, as I can vouch from persona' experience, to see the fish called to the bank to be fed by a lipoongye by means of a bell , and high up the Irrawaddy there is a colony of fish whose backs have been gilded by the natives in the cause of piety. — E T.S., in the Field. Tame Saiiton. — I see a letter about tickling salmon m last week's Field. In the spawningseason, when the fisb are on the beds, if yo\i can once touch a hen she will lie over like a pig to be scratclied. This can be done on an open spawning bed without any pretence at ah overluwigins: bank or weeds to_ cover lxer.

Some 30 years" ago I was shooting on the banks of the Spey lii autumn, when the salmon were on the redds. We came 'to the " tail of Sourdon," about a mile below Rothes ; the fish were fighting and spawning in the shallow water. The gillie who was carrying my bag had been all his life about the banks of the river ; and knew more about the habits of salmon than many a man who has written a book on the subject. He said to me, " I'll show you something, captain, that I dare say you don't know." We saw three fish, a female on the redd and two males a little below. The water was 18in or 2ft deep, and the fish were working off the open scaup some 12ft from the bank. The gillie waded in below ; the two males scuttled off, but the female remained in the hole or redd. Jouk got his hand on to the fish near the vent and began rubbing her. She 1 lav over and allowed him to scratch her. He then clasped his hands together and gripped the salmon firmly above the tail, dragging her tail first through the water, and eventually threw her on the bank ! Jock is still in my service as rabbit catcher, and I was speaking to him five minutes ago, and recalled the episode of tickling the salmon. He grinned and. said, '"Mony a salmon hae I tickled m my day." It is only the she fish that will lie over in the open bed, but a he fish will stand like a trout went out of sight under a bank. — H. J. Dunbar Brander a in the Field.

A Monster Cod.— A lad has literallyscored heavily at Rockhampton, in Queensland Handline fishers from the wharves were continually getting broken away by some big fish or fishes, and a yottth, on the principa 1 that desperate cases require desperate remedies, procured a moderately-sized clothes line, witb a large hook baited with a 31b cat fish. In a little time he was engaged with some monster that threatened to pull him into the Fitzroy River ; but, calling some companions to his aid, he hauled out a gigantic rock cod. The exact weight was 3161b, and the extreme girth 4ft 10in. Mr E. W. Sandford Wills has forwarded a photograph, and in the letter accompanying it says that the handline with which it was caught was a |in. manila. This gentleman thinks the variety of rock cod is ' family, percidoe; genus, oligorus terrae reginae." Mr Nelson, who examined and measured the fish, found in it 1 , stomach a quantity cf leg and other bono of sheep, and it is probable that this giant had been feeding for some time on re fuse from the works of the Central Queensland Meat Export Company, about four miles from the spot where it was caught. A variety of big sea fish in the antipodes pass as rock cod. — The Field

Cueiotjs Loss of a Devon Minnow. — I wa? yesterday spinning in North Devon for trout, and hooked a fish of about lOoz. He fought manfully, throwing himself out of the water four or five times. When T landed him I found that the gut was id two pieces, and the cast tied in a knot in the hooks ; but most extraordinary v/as the fact that the Devon minnow was gone. This of course proves ttiat the cast must have been separated from the hook^ long enough for the minnow to run off. I presume that the gut broke in one of the iish's leaps, that the minnow then dropped off. and that a= the fish fel' in again he must havvj entangled the collar But the more I think of it, the less I. can tmderstand it. I have fished for &0 years, and had many curious adventures : but 1 think this beats the record. Anyhow, 1 killed my fish, saved my flight of hooks, and lost my minnow- — An Old Par-son. Ox Taking a Flt. — I was fishing recently in the Little Teme when, in st)ite of a coJd wind, I -caught some beautiful trout, and hooked an ox in a very eiirious way This i^ how it was done : While recovering a fly from a tree the ox came up close to my rod, which was on the ground, and not only licked up the grass near it, but also my cast and fly. Off went the animal, evidently well hooked. I rushed to the rescue of my favourite old Farlow rod. and. then came 'the tug between the ox and the parson. But the strain of half a ton at one end and 14- stone at the other was too much for my tackle, and the line soon came back to me minus the Governor and half the cast. I would gladly have relieved the poor beast, but he was not to be caught again. I could only hope that the hook would not interfere with his next meal, and resolved in future to look after my tackle when cattle were about. — Ernest Brown.

Foul-kooked Fish — "An Old Parson's" account of the ioss of his Devon minnow, in » recent issue of the Field, reminds me of a curious case that occurred some years ago. I was fi h'ng with an old friend, who was using a Devon minnow, in a tributary of the iVerniew. A trout ran him, bolted under a root, and broke the cast. Three days afterwards my friend again hooked a trout wi'h a minnow in the same place, and, profiting by experience, kept it out of the ttump\nd landed it. It was then diECoveied that tbe trout was not hooked at all, that it was tbe fisb hooked three days previously, ■with the old trace banging from its mouth; that he had foul-hooked thin, his tackle twisting round it. He had not touched the fish at all with hia hooks It is very curious how fit,h get foul-hooked at times. I have had, as I dare say most anglers have, many experience*, but I think one is worth mentioning. It was a troat of 9oz. The flth rose to the fly — a dropper, I think— mi>sed ife,- and when I struck the stretcher fly hooked into the cast, forming a loop over the tody of the fish, and, slipping down, tightened. The fork of the tail prevented slipping, and fo I hauled the fish out tail first, not booked, but lsssoed. It is nothing very unuaual to hook a salmon foul, but one I hauled* out tail first that, rising and missing the fly, gofe hooked by the anal fin ptszz'ed toe to believe how tuch a little bit of film could stand the utrsin and p'unges of a 121b fish. — Alfred George.

A Reax/lt Curious Angling Exploit. — On the Floors upper water, Mr Roland Graham had an aDgling experience of an excitJDg and, in some respects, unique character. Fishing with a 12ft can rod, a trouting line and cast, and the usual complement of three trout flies, he was fortunate in accounting for several grilse during the week, but on the d&y named he was successful in hooking a salmon of good weighb. The use of so many fiiea in salmon fishiDg involves considerable risk of fouling and breakage, but in this case ife resulted in an adventure the like of which was perhaps never experienced before by any angler. The salmon had taken the end fly, but while it was being negotiated with the other hooks were successively seized by a trout and * grayling, both of good size. With such a miscellaneous lot in tow the relations of parties natarally became somewhat strained, and the chances seemed fco be . very much in favour of « general smafh, and the escape of all three fish. By-and-bye, however, the fcroub, when almost exhausted, dropped off, and ultimately the other two were, after careful handling, brought to net. The salmon weighed 161b and the grayling about lib. . Ib may be pretty safe do affirm that no angler ever had the privil«g« of running three fish, all of different species, on one line and at one time ; and even the feat of. landing two of them, such as these were, with such slender equipment was one of which any angler would feel firoud.—lweedaid*.

pm.

ISS6 7 *887-8 ISSS-9 1889 0 1890-1 1891-2 1892-3 86 61 80 64 47 55 2S 13 25 14 3 3 137! 115 166 156 155 76! Ib. rz 2SI 6| 189 3 318 ] 139 6 306 0 333 12 051 5 18*6. I Dec. 12 „ 19 1887. Jan. 9 1888. Jan. 12 Jan. 17 Jan. 3 1689. Jan. 13 FeK 3 Feb. 10 Oct. 27 Dec 1 1890. Feb. 2 Dec. 1 Mar. 30 April 12 Oct. 30 Nov. 15 Dec. 6 10 Oct. 30 Nov. 20 Dec. 27 Jan. 2 Dec. 9 Dec. 16 Dec. 2S Nov. 15 Vcv 19 Dee. 2 Oct. 6 Xov. 24 Dec. 15 Oct. 4 Nov. 1 Feb. 8 Feb. 21 Dec. 25 Feb. '6 Mar. 11 6 14 8 3 7 3 8 14 6 4 1 1 9 13 9 5 2 7 9 o 19 18 35 8 8 16 6 14 (5 <5 10 Il*I 1 * 9 10 13 4 7 5 3 11) OZ 18 4 24 31 16 S 9 5 8 10 6 10 14 13 19 0 24 3 16 8 7 8 9 8 45 0 39 10 21 15 40 0 12 0 21 S 40 4 68 12 109 4 88 10 140 0 49 0 40 0 22 S 6 8 S 0 7 0 18 0 30 0 35 14 21 7 22 4 34 1 31 0 28 8 32 8 25 8 64 353 1893-1 81 395 381 6 1594-5 82 141 125 2 1895 6 68 111 323 S 1596-7 72 12 328 12 1897-8 80 205)1 448 5 1817 131 '22681 4136 2 .