BANK NOTES.

Otago Witness, 5 December 1900, Page 52

BANK NOTES.

'1 owe " Waitaki Angler au apology for remembering his norn de plume. •The Shag. — My correspondent at the Shag piver reports that on Saturday the stream was [falling, and the fish seemed numerous. He [(mentions that a flock of prime white swans, numbering 12 or 15, passed up the valley the '^previous Sunday, and alighted for a short jtime in the river opposite his house. They Were apparently shaping' a course for the Xakes. if The Molyneux — Stirling, December 3. — On {Monday, the 26th ult., Mr J. Henderson fished 'some of the tidal reaches at the lower end of {•Inchclutha and landed 2 fish which weighed L7lb — 31b and 4-lb respectively. On Wednesday, the 28th, he caught 1 fish at the SandIhills, 21b. Qn the same day Mr Farquhar, fishidng in the lower waters, landed 3 fish, 161b ; 2 felb each, both Loch Leven trout, the other k-lb. This latter was a fine model of a fish — •'clear as silver, and strongly resembling a salmon. On Thursday, the2Bth, Mr Henderson, lashing in the lower waters, secured 1 fish, 31b an weight. These catches were made with the jfelack devil minnow. The river is in good jorder for fishing at present. — "Eldrin." f; Kaitangata. — The correspondent of the jOßruce Herald writes to that paper on the J27th November : — The disciples of Isaac Wal(Eon are a numerous body here. From, early morn till dewy eve they are assiduous in their tendeavours to lure the speckled denizens of (the Molyneux grasswards. As^far as I have

(been able to ascertain, the Beardsmores have Jbcen rewarded in their efforts very conspicitVmsly, their takes being considerably above khose of other patrons of the gentle art, but when they know every nook in the river where teuccess is likely to attend the intelligent manijpulation of rod and "spinner." f The Waitaki.— The Oamaru Mail of the BOth November says : Mr Adams, of Wai'taate, had some excellent sporf at the Wai)taki this week. We learn that he captured Cl 2 magnificent trout, five of which ranged ''from 121b to 171b in weight. The new mouth, /Which gave the fish a clean run in and out, jgot partially closed by the recent southerly jseas, and the river has now two outlets. jFishermen, however, will be glad to learn that rfchere is a good chance of the new mouth being Jopened out again, which will be the means of jgiving better sport to anglers. — Our Glenavy •correspondent writes : Fishing is in full swing ,on the Waitaki, and some every good takes 'are recorded. j", The Waipahi and Pomahaka. — The Tapatnui Courier of the 28th November, in referring jxo the Governor's visit to Tapanui, says: — K)n Thursday morning a fishing party proceeded to the Waipahi Stream, and an enjoy*able day was spent. The Pomahaka was not y in condition after the heavy rains, otherwise Jthere would have been a better choice of (water. The day was beautifully fine, but the /baskets were small, and the party returned home soon after 6 o'clock. — Nothing much is facing done amongst anglers just now, says Ahe Waipahi correspondent of the Clutha 'Leader, but previous to this some good "jcatches were made. I must not forget the /visit his Excellency Lord Ranfurly paid to /the river last Thursday, 22nd ult. He, in 'company with other gentlemen, drove from (where he was on a visit) to Conical Hills siding, and from there they proceeded ±b the Waipahi Eiver, where a good day was spent, although very few of the spotted beau!ties could be lured from their native element. -There is a fly used in fishing which is called the Governor, which I presume his Excellency )tried. Now, fancy how hard the fish down ihere must be to catch when there was a Go.vernor on each end of the tackle and no sport ,io be had with the finny tribe ! " J. R. 5.," writing from Arthurton on the 2nd in3t., says the Waipahi is low and clear, and getting a bit weedy. The green slime h

appearing early this season. The fishing has not been so good this last week owing to the lowness of the water. The Samuel, lightcoloured Jessie, and Governor, are the best flies just now. The last day I was out I got a couple of three-pounders and several smaller ones.

The Lee Stream.— Mr Edgar and Mr D. Russell visited the Lee Stream last week for the first time since 1882. They found the stream free of diggers' tailings, and from all they could learn no sluicing has been done there for some considerable time. They did not get many fish, and had a scorching sunshine the whole time ; but from the baskets Mr Peak has got out of the stream this season, and from information received, they considered the Lee Stream is as well stocked with trout as ever it was. The accommodation and attendance at the Lee Stream Hotel they found first class, and any Dunedin angler will enjoy a visit to this old favourite stream. The most of Messrs Edgar and Russell's fish were taken Avith the grasshopper. • The Mimihau.— Last Thursday evening Mr* R. S. Drummond caught four trout, one weighing 31b ; on Tuesday afternoon 16, up to 41b ; and on Wednesday evening a small basket, including one 3a-pounder — all caught in -the Mimihau. On Saturday Mr John • Greenshield caught a good basket of 16 trout in the Upper Mimihau. Mr J. A. Stirling,, within -the last fortnight, ha 3 caught- 43 -trout, several up to 31b, and all good baskets. — Wyndham Farmer. The- Wyndham -Herald says that Mr M. "Lawrie is occasionally getting his share of trout. Mr Gaw got a fine lot on Wednesday. On Tuesday last Mr John M'Kay (Ardoch) grassed eight nice fish. Winchester, December 3. — Langdon's register for the week shows a total of 198 fish, weighing 1051b, all taken from the Waihi with ■the fly. Of these Mr Izard and Prof. Wall, •of Christchurch, fishing for an afternoon and part of the following day, took 38, averaging 41b. A thunderstorm yesterday, but to-day bright and cool. There is still rather too much water in the Opihi. but other streams in good order. The Rangitata has been rather "off and on," but some fair catches have been made, averagaing 51b. Two anglers from here left on Saturday evening, but have not yet returned. — Regular correspondent. The Rangitata.— The Rangitata at the latter end of last week was in capital condition for angling. Mr Boyd Thomson reports that Mr G. M'Cullough landed 21 fish, Mr Frank Brown 23, and Mr C. Horsman 25. All the fish were in good condition, and scaled from 31b to 101b. The minnow princiually used is the whitebait phantom. — Lyttelton Times. November 27. — Fishing during the past weekj ■says the Timaru Post of the 30th tilt?, has been very poor, many of the rivers being out of condition, owing to freshes, and the recent inclement weather has been a bar to many anglers. The Rangitata has apparently been in good order, but we have not heard of any notable takes. An angler in the Orari River got 19 fish on Tuesday with the minnow, but none of them were large, the average being about

Tapanui. — A recent edition of the Tapanui Courier says : — Most of the streams liave now fallen to ordinary level since the storm, and the fishers are again busy. The Mataura Ensign's correspondent writes: — The rivers have been in splendid condition for fishing this season, and fish plentiful. The most successful anglers so far have been Messrs P. M'Cann and A. Mason, who have both secured a large number of very nice^fish. The Opihi.— The Tiinaru Herald of the 28th November reports as follows: — The late floods in the Opihi River, by changing the channel, left a pool a few chains long under the southern end of the Main road bridge, and this, we hear, is full of trout, mans*- of them large ones. ' The pool is likely to become dry as the river falls, and there will be a great mortality among the fish, unless they are removed. Fishermen and poachers are doing something in this way now, but they cannot catch more than a tithe of the imprisoned fish. The Acclimatisation Society should at once send their ranger with his net, and remove the fish to the main stream, which is but a few yards away.

The Sehvyn and Other Canterbury Streams. —Mr John Trist, says the Lyttelton Times of the 28th November, 'reports that there has been splendid fishing at the Sehvyn during the last few days, and the river has never been in better order than at present. Mr R. Moffatt', of Christclmrch, and two other gentlemen caught 19 fish, the largest weighing silb, for one day's fishing. Several other anglers had equally good sport, catching fish up to 13jlb. The Rakaia and Rangitata are in capital order, and large baskets have been taken from both.

The Pareora. — The Pareora continues to yield good sport to anglers visiting the \ipper "waters. On Saturday week Messrs Judson and Gibson secured between 80 and 90 fish, whilst Messrs W. Brookland and WaTd landed over 100. " Mr F. Tasker, fishing in the Upper Pareora, had some excellent sport with the fly, and he succeeded in landing one of the largest fish ever taken out of this river. It was a female fish, weighing 6|lb. Mr Tasker says that it took him two hours to land it. He secured 36 fish altogether, and some of- the others were also very fine specimens.

The Rakaia.— The Ashburton Mail of November 29 reports as follows: — Messrs Bennett and Shury returned on Monday from the Rakaia mouth. They found plenty of feed in the paddock and a lot of water in the river, but the fish seemed to have crossed over to the other side. Besides themselves, there were Messrs Cambridge, Thompson, Preston, Doolan, and Muckle, who literally toiled all night, and got, nothing. Mr Thompson got two during his stay, and the others nothing, though Messrs Cambridge, Thompson, Preston, and Pilbrow had a few before Messrs Shury and Bennett got down. After all the others left, Messrs Crisp, Douglas, Preston, and Pilbrow returned, and Messrs Crisp and Pilbrow got one each. In three days Mr Shury caught 10 fish. On the other side of the river Mr H. Curtis got five nice fish, in a couple of hours, in the early morning. — The ChrisLchurch Press of the 28th November says: — The Rakaia River was m very good order for fishing at the end of last week, and afforded anglers some excellent sport. One captured by Mr Denby was a splendid specimen of a salmon trout, 161b, fresh run and in prime condition; in fact, it was "Prime Canterbury." Othei fish taken were from 31b to 71b.— The Lyttelton Times of November 27 gives additional information concerning this river. It says : — Angling is still being actively pursued at the mouth of the Rakaia River. For several- weeks past parties of fishermen have been camped there, dose to Mr P. M'Cormick's farm, and several very fine catches have been made. Messrs Harman, Holdsworth, and Harman have been particularly successful, both in numbers and weight of fish caught. Heavy fish are scarce just now, many big fish which were caught being in poor condition. The minnow and the sprat are the favourite bait. The Waiau. — The Orepuki correspondent of the Southland News sends .Ms jjaper the fol-

lc-wing information : The Waiau is still attracting a goodly number of anglers, and fair catches are reported.

A Well-conditioned Fish. — The Western Star of the 27th November reports that Mr D. Kirkland caught a real beauty of a trout in the bay the other day. It was a short fish, but very plumu, and turned the scale at 121b.

It Does Not Say Much For the Rods.— An exchange says : Three Wellington anglers, while fishing with minnows at the mouth of the Hutt River on a recent afternoon, had splendid sport with a shoal of kahawai. Their catch (says our Wellington correspondent) numbered 247 fish. One man caught 139. The sport had to be discontinued owing to each of the three rods proving unequal to the prolonged strain.

Lightly Let Off. — At a meeting of the Tapanui Court on the 27th November Messrs L J. Quayle and R. A. Rodger, J.P.s, were called upon to adjudicate in the case of the Otago Acclimatisation Society v. A. Thomson, a charge of fishing for trout without a license. Mr Sinclair appeared for the society; and their ranger (Mr D. Doake) prosecuted. Defendant pleaded guilty, and as he had since taken out a license, only a nominal fine was asked for. Fined ss, and costs, 9s.

Successful Juvenile Anglers. — The Taieri Advocate of the 27th November writes : Two boys were fishing the other day in the Waipoua River, near its junction with the Ruamahunga, and caught between them 50 trout by means of the time-honoured worm. The largest fish was 21b; the weight of the smallest is -not recorded, but the average weight was satisfactory. Crossbred Trout. — A gentleman recently wrote to the Timaru Herald as follows : Sir. — On the 9th November I caught in the Pareora a fish of about |lb of such peculiar markings that I sent it to Dr Moorhouse, of Christchurch, for identification. I have to-day received a letter from him which I think will be interesting to a number of fishermen in this district. The letter (which was apparently forgotten to be posted at the proper time) is as follows: — "Christchurch, November 11, 1900. I went down and met your fish last night, and had it for breakfast. It was very good and pink -fleshed. It was a hybrid between the American brook trout (Salmo fontinalis) and the Loch Leven, probably. This cross is called the 'Zebra hybrid.' Brown trout do not easily with the Americans, as they spawn so much later than either the Americans or the Loch Levens. We have been makiug a lot of experiments here in crossing, and find it in most cases very difficult to get the eggs fertilised. The zebra cross is the easiest to obtain, and it can only be got by using a male American and a female Loch Leven. They won't cross the other way. It is quite possible that the one you got was a wild-bred fish; but from the size of the fish I should judge it to be a three-year-old, and -we have a lot of hybrids in the gardens of about that size also three years old. When they were small fry one of the, screens which kept them apart got shifted, and a number of the hybrids got mixed with the rainbows, and it is possible that this is one of those sent down to you amongst the rainbows we sold yOUy OU . — Yours, etc., B. Moorhouse." Southland . Acclimatisation Society.— At a meeting of the Sotvthland Acclimatisation Society, held on the 29th ult., the curator reported unexpected mortality amongst the rainbow trout hatched out at the pond, from eyed ova obtained from the Otago Society, owing, ■perhaps, to the spring water being too cold f o* 1 them, and asked for instructions as to tneir disposition. It was resolved that the rvdter be left in the hands of the curator to deal with as he thinks best. The secretary having suggested the desirableness of deepening the creek at the ponds so as to better enable stock fish to be kept, a deputation consisting of Messrs Burnes, Russell, Hon. H. Feldwick, and the secretary were appointed to visit the ponds to consider the question and report. It was decided that the Loch Leven fry hatched out from the eyed ova obtained from the Otago Socity be liberated in the \pacvma Master W. Turnbull, of .Gore, caught 39 fine fish in the Otamete during two eonsecvitive ctays recently (says the Ensign). The Oreti is reported to be in splendid trim for the fly in the vicinity' of Lumsden, and several <rood baskets have been made. On luesday Mr Milne, of the Elbow Hotel, took 17 nice trout in a little over two hours, the fishing averaging 141b. The Mataura River at Parrawa is quite clear as yet, no dredging work being in progress to sully its limpidity. In eonseqtienee, fish are very numerous, and of good average size and weight. On Wednesday Mrs F. H. Wilson, of Orepuki, had a very successful day p fishing at the Waiau River. This lady secured four splendid trout, totalling 201b, one of which weighed close upon 71b. On Sunday last whitebait were so thick near the mouth of the Waiau that some anglers scooped them out with their hands Under such circumstances it was waste of time to try for trout. One of these anglersi states that tmtil lately whitebait were unknown in the Waiau. The shoals are increasing yearly m Southland generally. — Southland News. There is a large number of anglers on the Waitaki River just now, and fish are Bientiful. The whitebait are at present going up the river in shoals, and consequently trout are about in large numbers. Mr Adams ot Waimate, got 9 last week, one going 161b. The Temuka Leader says that fish are literally swarming in the Opihi. -From one hole near Pleasant Point nearly 300 have been taken. ______^_