ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2402, 15 March 1900, Page 50

ANGLING.

By Jock Scott.

To be a perfect Oslieman you require more evceilenoies than are usually to be fouud in such a small space a3 is allotted to a man's carcass Paksisk Gilmoub.

Headers are imited to contribute items of local fjHliins uewa for insertion in this, column. For insertion in the ensuing issue they should leacu Duncdiu by Jloudcy uignt's mail.

COMPETITIONS. OTAGO ANGLERS' ASSOCIATION.

March — Cup Day. — Perch competition, for prizes presented by Messrs J. Wilkie and Co., Mr W. Bremner, and Mr J. B. M'Callum. A picnic will be held in connection with this competition.

The attention of intending competitors is specially called to the rule that they shall not fish the stream for 24 hours immediately preceedmg the competition.

BANK NOTES.,

The Waikouaiti. — Mr H. Crust and friend paid a visit to the Waikouaiti last Saturday, and did exceedingly well. They got 13 fish between them, one of which was 61b in weight. Most of the others were about 21b each. The minnow was used as a lure. It was very gusty and the river was low.

Arthurton, March 11th.—" J. R. S." writes : There has been some heavy rain lately, which has freshened up the waters of the southern streams and them in good order for fishing for a few days. The Waipahi was very low and clear previous to the rain, and the fish very shy. A few days ago I saw a nice lot of fish, 10 in number, caught by Mr S. 'Trusler, also a basket of 8 beauties grassed by his brother Charles. Mr E, Harrison had 5 nice fish, one over 41b, got with the cricket near the old sheep dip. The Waipahi.— March 12th.—-" "W.D." writes on the foregoing date: The Waipahi was slightly freshened by the rains of last week, but is still low ; not much fishing is being done now, only a day occasionally. Messrs P. and T. Murray had a day up the Arthurton Gorge fin j,h,e 6i,Jk killing 14- fis.h between them;, sis,

the 7th, T. Murray killed 18 fish weighing 221b All these fish were taken with the cricket.

Fi&hing Para. — Mr A. Mason, of Tapanui, had a successful fishing toiir last week, and secured 80 fish, the take weighing close on 1001b.

Owing to the small quantity of water in the Waitohi Stream the trout are dying off in numbers.

Mr D. Kirkland, of Riverton, obtained a nice basket of trout the other clay. The largest turned the scale at 81b. They were taken from the Aporima.

The water in the Waipoua River, in the Wairarapa district, is low now, so that anglers desert the stream, and their places are supplied by nimble poachers. Thousands of trout are being removed from the river by nets, sharp sticks, and other ingenious contrivances.

An eel weighing 22£lb, and 4ft 2in in length, was caught at Stanley Brook, Nelson, recently. It measured 16in round the girth, and was captured by the aid of an ordinary hayfork.

The Oamaru Mail of the 9th inst. Pays that on Wednesday evening Mr W. E. Farr landed a trout from the Kakamri weighing 81b. The fish was in fine condition, and has been placed in the freezer.

Maxims for the Angler.— The following maxims, though they come somewhat late in the season, may result in the capture of many a bonny fish which, without a due observance of them, might be lost : — " Do not imagine that, because a fish does not instantly dart off on first seeing you, he is the less aware of your presence; he almost always on .such occasions ceases to feed, and pays you the compliment of devoting hie- whole attention to you, whilst he is preparing for a s-tart whenever the apprehended danger becomes sufficiently imminent. " If you are above a fish in the stream when you hook him, get below him as soon as you can; and remember that if you pull him, but for an instant, against the slrr-ani, he will, if a heavy fish, break, hie hold ; or if he should be firmly hooked, you will probably find that the united strength ol the stream and fish is too much for your :-l:ill and tackle.

" Bear always in 3nind that no tackle is strong enough, unless well 1-andled. A good fisherman will easily kill a trqut of 31b with a rod and line which are not strong enough to lift a dead weight of lib from tha floor, and ptare it on the table.

" Never throw with a lout? line- when a «horfc one will answer your puVposc. 'Ihft most difficult fish, to hook i.-; one which is rising at three-fourths of the ulmo s l distance to which you can throw. Even when you are at the extent of your distance, you have a better chance; because, in this case, when yo\i do reach him, your line will be straight, and, when you do not, the intermediate failures will not alarm him.

" If your fly (gut unfortunately included) should swim over a fish without his taking it, look out well for a darting line of undulation, which betokens his immediate departure ; and remember that it is of no xi&e to continue fishing for him after he is gone. " Nover mind what they tay about ' playing him till he is tired.' Much valuable time and many a good fish may be lost by this proceeding. Put him in your basket as soon as you can. Everything depends on the manner in which you commence your acquaintance with him. If you can at first prevail upon him to go a litlle way down the stream with you, you will have no difficulty afterwards in persuading him to let you have the pleasure of seeing him at dinner.

" It appears to me that, in whipping, with an artificial fly, there are only two cases in which a fish, taking the fly, will infallibly hook himself without your assistance — via. : '• 1. When your fly first touches the water at the end of a straight line. "2. When you are drawing out your fly for a new throw.

' ' In all o£tier cases, it is necessary that, in order to hook him when he has taken the fly, you should do something with your wrist which it is not easy to describe. "Lastly — When you have got hold of a good fish which is not very tractable, if you are married, gentJe reader, think of your wife, who, like the fish, is united to you by very tender ties, which can only end with her death, or her going into weeds. If you are single, the loss of the fish, when you thought the prize your own, may remind you of some more serious disappointment." Brisk Business at "Wellington. — " Mayfly," writes in the New Zealand Mail in a humorous strain, of a trip made by a trio of well-known Welling tonians to the farfamed Waikanae. He says one of them, whose business it is to arm sportsmen for the pursuit of fish, fur, and feathers, ransacked his stock of tackle, and when he had finished his fly-book bore a strong resemblance to a, portmanteau, and it required the services of a porter to convey it to the railway station. On arrival at their destination, one of the party elected to fish the lower watei', and had very good sport, getting one very nice fish of 61d, and several others, ranging from lib upwards. His friends went \ip the river, and had a real good time, the man with the aforesaid portmanteau getting 'a veritable monster, of which the weight Avas not determinable, as no scales large enough could be found nearer than the weighbridge on the Queen's wharf in Wellington. The excitement attendant upon the capture of this fish and the frantic appeals of the captor to his companions for assistance were strongly suggestive of the encounter with the snapping turtle, as related in the " Bon Baultier Ballads."

Was it an Otter? — This question brings to my mind a, curious incident that occurred many years ago, and which may be worth recalling. A gentleman was fishing in the river Yare near Masham and had hooked a fine trout, which he was in the act of landing, when an otter suddenly appeared underneath the fish and made an attempt to secure it. This was, however, frustrated by a vigorous blow from the spike at the end of his landing net, which so stunned the animal that it was eventually killed. I saw the otter shortly after its death. It was quite a young one, and, as nearly as I can remember, would weigh from 51b to 61b. — James Carter (Burton House, Masham, K. S.O.) — It is a wide but mistaken idea that otters live upon trout and fish of the salmon kind. I do not contend that they, will not take either salmon or trout if they can get them, but the fish which the otter kills are generally sickly specimens, which are better out of the way, and by killing them the otter is carrying out a law of nature, just as the hawk or other birds of prey do in killing off diseased birds. A clean run salmon or healthy tr6ut is practically safe from an otter. I have had considerable experience with tame ones, and from what I have seen I am convinced that they sxibslst almost entirely upon eels. I had a fine dog otter as a pet last spring, and when I took him down to the river for a swim, which he enjoyed almost every morning, he invariably made his breakfast of three eels, and, apparently being satisfied, gambolled about with the next. It is seldpm that i&njJJiifi&iJUilgas. d^tui^e^jihj)ws.ymseif in $}&

day time, for... like the owl, he is by nature sv night marauder. — D. 1.8.1., in the Field. The Amateur Rod Mender.— lt is astonishing to find how many anglors nowadays dress their own flies and make their own tackle, yet comparatively few are able to splice or repair the joints of a "broken, fishing rod. Accidents frequently happen by the side of lake or river. You are miles from available assistance, and it surely behoves every angler to be able to repair damages himself. Most anglers possess something in the nature of a den, and, failing a proper bench, a most useful article of furniture is a strong oblong kitchen table, fitted with a serviceable 'general' vice. The most necessary tools for the amateur are a small jack plane, spokeshave, rasp, strong knife, small pricker, and a light hammer. In addition to these you will require a' supply of shoemaker's wax (more adhesive and tenacious than the colourless article, a reel of strong brown 01 dark green silk thread, a bottle of patent liquid glue, and another of best copal varnish; a sheet of two of sand or plass paper of various degrees of fineness. A fine brush for the varnish (the glue has ona included with eaeli bottle) will complete the amateur's outfit. Many kinds of wood employed in the manufacture of fishing rods have two distinct kinds of grain, and the value of the weapon depends entirely upon the proper kind being selected. Greenhearfc and hickory especially should be riven or split to ensure the springy toughness peculiar to those two kinds of timber; if cross-grained, either of them will snap off short like a carrot, lhis is the chief fault of blue mahoo, which, would otherwise be a valuable material for rods. Of course, it is impossible to curry;, all these articles with you to the riverside,' but the anglei may always have in his pockets or wallet the knife, silk, tand paper, and 1 a lump of wax in a tin box. Lot us assume that you luive only one top joint, and that by borne accident it breaks in the middle with, a clean slanting fracture, which is the easiest of all to rrpair. With your knife scrape the two surfaces of wood as evenly as you can, and then rub them perfectly smooth with the sand puper. It you were at home a thin, coating- of gluo should be brushed upon each, and the two pieces joined closely and evenly together ; but in a case of emergency this is not really ntcp=saiy. The thing to do is to thoroughly v,:i-v about a yard and a-half of si]k thread, and, holding the two pieces tightly together with jour leu kind, lay the end of the silk alongside and commence to wrap at the top end of the break downwards. 'When, a few ]»)«! have been made a " professional " is a bio to spin the joint round and round with his lingers until the whole of the splice is covered; but an amateur, unless he has a friend at hand to hold the silk tight for him, had better continue to wrap over with the right hand and grip the pieces together with the left until the repair is complete. Dark green or brown silk is by far the best and neatest for rod wrapping, for nothing looks raore g.iudy and shoplike than the bright red! whippings that adorn the cheaper class of American-made split cane rode, and also many factory machine-made wooden ones that sire intended for sale rather than' for use. To fasteu off the end of the silk, make three hitch knots, and, with the blunt side of your knife blade, work it underneath. A coating of varnish completes the job, and there is no necessity to carry that with you, for it can be applied nfeer your return home, varnish being rather awkward stuff to keep in your waterside equipment. It is not often,' that a built cane top or joint gives way, but still it is as well to be prepared in case of emergency. A small sheet of thin brass can be easily carried in your fly or tackle book, and, having this, you place the fractured parts as closely together as is possible under the circumstances ; cut off a requisite strip of brass plate, wrap it tightly round the two parts and bind over with silk, as in the case of a wooden rod. It should, however, be slated that the repair of a built cane joint is never really satisfactory, and it is, therefore, most fortunate that a breakage so very seldom occurs. Herein is also a fatal objection to the American made tubular steel rods, for, when broken, they cannot be repaired in. any way. There is little to be said in favour of such rods, but they are almost practically unbreakable. Finally, on the general question of amateur repairing, it may be added; that a small gimlet is a very useful tool to have, for if a joint breaks short off by the fervule the wood can be bored out with very little trouble, whereas, an attempt to excavate by means of a knife blade usually ends in loss of weapon and temper, with, perhaps, a cut finger to boot. — Field.