ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2355, 13 April 1899, Page 46

ANGLING.

, By Jock Scott.

To be a perfect Oslicrniau jou require more txesileuoicd than irousuallr In be found in nucli a &m:ill nimct ,v Mxllotud to a Ttm's «nrc»«s.— Pakkkr C lUiuui:.

Rratfer.i arc iuritcd lo contribute Items of local (lulling ncivt dr insertion in this eolmuu Kor in^rMou in lln enbuing mu> •ioj- should rc»oh Dunertln Uy Monday nirfht's mall.

HAWK NOTES.

The Mimihau.—" W. P. S. " writes that the streams have been very low for a long time. The weather has, however, changed, and the rain falling will put them in fine trim for tho end of the season. Mr James Mitchp'l paid a visit to tho Mimihau on the 7Ui inst., but had to shelter from the weather, with what h very unusual for him — an empty basket.

Upper Olutha at Lowburn. — This river is reported to be low. On the Ist inst. Mr J. Jameson took 6 fish, and on the 3rd 7, with the fly and minnow. The average weight of the fish was lilb.

The Mataura. — One afternoon last week, Mr M. Laurie caught four fish in the Malaura, weighing respectively 31b, 7£lb, 51b, and 321b. Twenty-four pounds for four fish is a good take.

The Oreti. — "Angler<" writes on the 10th inst. that the river is in a half-flooded state, and just suitable for minnow lulling or for the worm. Good fishing may bo expected to the end of the season. On the slh inst Mr J. Thomas took five nice fish with the woim, the heaviest being 41b. On the 4th Mr T. M'Math caught seven with the fly, the largest being 2J>lb. On the 9th he was more successful, taking 10. six of which went 231b. On the same date Mr Saudford caught one fish.

The Molyneux (Stirling). — This river has been very low for some weeks past. On account of recent lams, it is up a little now. So far a.s I have heard, no fish have been caught here for the last fortnight. Several good angler!) ha^e been out, but have returned with empty baskets, not even seeing a single fish. What has become of all the fish viith which this river was stocked a few years ago? The supply seems to have run out, and it is plain that if something is not done to renew it fishing here will be a thing of tbe past. We are in hopes now that it is coming near spawning time that some will come in from the ssoa, and that a basket or two may be yet ?>ot before the season closes. — " Eldrin."

Winche.-tcr, April 10. — The recent continuous misty rain has made matters unpleasant for fishermen, although the rivers were not materially affected. Mr Sugden's take of the 6th inst — viz., six fish, weighing 471b. from the Opihi, is worthy of record. The Rangilata was tried in ugly weather, and nothing satisfactory resulted. This water, however, continues in good order. Mr T. Brown and party, from your city, are out to-day, the weather having taken up. — Correspondent. Perch Taking Fly. — Mr Percy Glass was fly fishing on Cromford Meadows, when he hooked and landed a perch weighing lib 7oz, upon a Yorkshire hackle fly ("snip and orange"). Is not this something unu&ua)? The question arises : Is it worth while to angle for perch with the fly? — H. Cooper, Hon. Sec. Matlock and Cromford Angling Association. [Perch do occasionally take an artificial fly, but it is generally a much more substantial pattern than the spiders of Yorkshire. The second question may be answered in the negative. Mr Glass might whip the Derwent for 20 yeara without repeating the feat. — Ed. the Field. l

Large Solway Salmon. — A magnificent salmon was caught in the poke nets at Seafield, Annan. The lucky captor found the fish in his nets after the tide had ebbed. Several hours after its capture the fish was weighed by Mr .James Bonner, fifth merchant, Annan, the purchaser, ft scaled 521b, and measured 52iin in length and 28£ in in girth. It will be noticed that the fish weighed l'b for each inch of its length, and was beautifully proportioned. This is ihe finest salmon taken in the Solway nets for some years, and exceeded by 31b one taken at Annan on August 13, 1896.— The Field.

Pike Taking Wild Ducks.— The following appears in the Field: — The oilier day, when out trout fishing "la the neighbourhood of

Kintore,"- 1 disturbed a wild duck and her young brood of seven. I was watching the youngsters swimming across, when all at once I saw a large pike take one. They were, I should say, three of four weeks old. I have often heard of this being done, but never before saw the act. I was agaih'near the same place the day following, and saw an old duck ■and only one young one. I 'conclude the others had gone the same way. Pike are very numerous in parts of this river, and I fre^ quently see them of large size; one I have often seen must be at last 251b.

A Shot Trout.— l had a fine trout for bieakfast scaling over 2ilb, caught by a friend. Whilst eating it 1 found it had been shot some time ago, two shots were firmly embedded in the body, one at the shoulder, and one in the belly. The fish was none the worse to eat, except that the flesh round the shots was slightly discoloured, and my friend assure; me that he fought gamely for about 15 minutes, the rod and tackle being light. I do not know if this is a very uncommon case, but it is a common practice among the local natives to shoot fish. — A.8.5., in the Field.

Smoking Fish. — In answer to "Lax" respecting how to smoke salmon, I would say that the following is the method pursued in Canada : — Split the fish down the back, and not down the centre of the belly. Take out the back bone, and place the fish, after cleaning it, in a strong pickle of salt and water (sallxsetre may be added) for 4S hours or more. If the fish is very large, press it between boards with a weight at the top for 24 hours (to keep it open, tie two small sticks across the fish in three or four places), then hang up in a smokehouse until quite cured, which takes about 14 days. In Canada a smokehouse is wigwam shaped, with a small opening for a "door, and is covered by bark ; if bark cannot be got, sods might be used on boards. A small smouldering fire should be kept burning inside, being careful not to let it be hot, or the fish will cook. — Richard Dashwood, in the Field.

The Leith at Edinburgh.— Mr W. S. Pillans, writing from Edinburgh, gives some particulars of the condition' of tho Water of Leith there which may prove interesting. He says: — "In several of the Otago Witnesses that have reached me lately, I see that there are still complaints from time to time about the pollution of the Witer of Leith, which runs through the fair cUy of Dunedin, and it has occurred to me that, some of your readers (especially those who knew Edinburgh in former days) may be interested to hear something of the present condition of thft old Water of Leith, after which the New Zealand stream is named. In my school days (about 36 years ago) my home was in St. Bernai'd's Crescent, and I had daily to cross the Water of Leith by Stock Bridge on my way to and from the Edinburgh Academy. In those days, and for many years afterwards, the stream was a fetid sewer — filthy and evil smelling. When I visited the locality on a lovely day in July last, I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw the change that had taken place. VVhen I looked over the Dean Bridge (which is about 120 ft above the bed of the stream) I could distinctly see the stones at the bottom of the water even from that great height. I then went down under the Dean Bridge, and through the grounds surrounding St. Bernard's Well, which have of late years been freshly laid- out and put in order by Mr Nelson, the eminent publisher, of Edinburgh, who has spent much in beautifying this city. I have since made some inquiries as to the cause of the wonderful changes in the Water of Leith, and have been able to obtain the following information through the kindness of Bailie Pollard and Mr Anderson, son of the late Mr John Anderson, of Denhain Green, whose name is still well remembered by Otago anglers in consequence of the interest he took in everything regarding fish and fishing in- New Zealand. The corporation of Edinburgh laid under the bed of the "Water of Leith a 26in sewer pipe in 1864 at a cost of about £70,000, and in 1889 commenced the construction of a large sewer 4ft in diameter, also under the bed of the stream. This was completed in 1893, and cost over £100,000. These drains carry off all the sowage within the municipal boundaries of Edinburgh and Leith which formerly emptied into the stream, and havo caused it to return to almost its native purity — its waters being now chiefly composed of the natural surface drainage of the watershed, which no doubl supplies a large quantity of wholesome food for trout. Trout were turned into the stream in April, 1894, and afterwards in August, 1895, though in what numbers 1 have been unable to ascertain. No tloubt they amounted to a great many thousands. The river was first opened for angling in 1895, and was at first fairly rushed by anglers, as many as 300 rods having been counted on the stream one summer evening between Dean Bridge and Warrieton. The number taken out the first season must have been enormous, though, of course, the sizes of the tront must have been very small. The season begins on tho Ist February and ends on the 30th Novembei, and a permit to fish with rod and line is granted free of charge on application to the town clerk. Sea trout came up the river in ■ greac abundance last November. Salmon Iry were liberated near St. Bernard's Well last summer, and a large number of ova, both of trout and salmon, have been placed in the stream, besides which a great number of fry are constantly being liberated by private individuals in the upper waters of the stream. On the occasion of my above-men-tioned visit to the locality 1 was leaning over the parapet opposite to St. Bernard's Well and looking lovingly into the stream in hopes of seeing a trout rise, and near me was a young man also looking intently into the river. I entered into conversation with him, and he told me that he had a permit to fish and showed me with great pride a pool nearly opposite where we stood, where he had tho day before caught a trout 9in long. J asked him what kind of fly he took it with, and he replied, 'It wasua' a flee : it was a wur-r-r-um.' He then look me a little further up tho stream, and showed me a shallow where the young salmon had been liberated a few days before ; and there we saw 20 or 30 fry, about 2in long, disporting themselves, which was to me a very pretty sight indeed. I thought I would expand this young man's mind a bit, in return for his civility to me. So I gave him a veracious account of the large size to which trout grow in New Zealand, and quoted some of- the weights of individual fish and baskets which had been taken with rod and line by my friends and myself. It was evident by his tone and manner that he did not believe me, so I" assured him it was the ' frozen truth,' imported by direct steamer together with New Zealand frozen mutton and lamb. After that he bade me good afternoon and left, evidently uncertain whether I was an escaped lunatic from Morningside A sylum or only a colossal and very fluent liar. Aj I returned I had a look at St. Bernard's Well, which has also been renovated of late years. There were some people there drinking the mineral waters. These waters are highly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen or some other chemical, and the taste is lik* tbs mixed flavour of wry mature 'lioa-

fiuit and the warm flat-irons spoken of by the immortal Sam Weller. I remembered the taste of old, and ' wasn't having any, 1 so" I resolved to let well alone, and I left."