ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2455, 3 April 1901, Page 52

ANGLING.

"By Jock Scott.

ffi»T« he a perfect tskerauui yon require More exeeUenoiea than |ki«u«B«Hy to ke ftoud In such a null space as is allotted to a Em's carcass.*— Pakkka Qilmoctb. til Beater* are iavited to contribute Item* of I«cal flihine new* MkrlaserhnißtkUolran. P*r inieretoa in tac eniuiag iuu» Ijtojrakastt reach Dtacdin by M«n**T nlfW'a »ail. tg — ■ — "

BISK NOTES. "The Waipahi, Arthur ton, April I.— J.R.S. ftn-ites that fete Waipahi is very clear* but & still in good fishing trim. The weather is fine, and on. a suitable day a bag of ifeh might be got yet. Although the best W of the season for this stream is past. Be has toot heard of any catches- lately «6 Jil the local anglers are busy harvesting, i Lumsden, April I.— "Angler" writes: ''It Is a long time since you have had anything Sir the angling notes about our river (Oreti) *nd I now send you some few notes. I maybeigin by telling you there are no dredges here to dirty the river or interfere with anglers, 'and we have three first-class hotels where .travellers are well looked after. The river j is within three minutes' walk, and there are *talenty of good fish waiting to be taken out «f the water. Our local angles are well toleased with the* takes they have made. Al.though no very big fish have been caught, ithe catches range from 161b downwards. One gentleman, got 8 fish, averaging 41b, another '6, weighing 331b. Others have made basfkets of small fish numbering front 70 down-L-warde. It is yet a disputed point whether ;the worm or the fly kills best. Most 'of the anglers prefer the worm, but^ there 'are one or two veterans who still stick to Ithe fly." 1 Winchester, April I.— Tflere has been (rather too much water in the larger btreams for successful angling, although occasional ,«lfair baskets have been made by the fewlout fifihing. Langdon's figures for the week {are 126 trout weighing 9<Ulb. The weather tat the time of writing is promising, and iall waters are in good order.—Correspon- ! .The Instruction of Fishermen. — In France "" itfcere is an association Eimilf.r to one started f iiT Ireland by Sir Thomas Brady about lo foreare ago, for the instruction of fishermen tettd-^their «Jns in the work of netting and -imoidea&ds to the fish they capture. The + *«ralt of the lectures given has been that men have been enabled to prosecute their work with fewer risks and wiih greater satisfaction and success. At the He de Gtoix, a fishing' centre off the Brittany coast, one of these schools was founded aud 50 fishermen attended the first lectures and demonstrations in 1895. The number soon doubled. tAmongst the subjects taught were the lighting and ballasting of boats, the preparation of bait, the mending of nets, first aid to ithe apparently drowned, and general arabuQance work. The Minister of Marine has Subsidised the school and also others at Boulogne, La Rochelle, Le Croisic, AreaIchon, Phillipeville, and Marseilles. At Marseilles the school is aboard an old vessel donated by the State. There a twoyears' training is given to resident pupils. ,The system has nearly as much to recomonend "it as the agicultural college of this country. Subjects which suggest themselves «a being a necessary part of the curriculum tof such an establishment here are the making of trawls and lines, boat building, punt ibuilding, net-making, ambulance work, « inatural history of fish, sub-aqueous flora, sail- j ing, pulling, practical details of the capture j •of fish, as well as the laws bearing upon the 1 of the colony, and the geography Xbi the coast. — Home Exchange. i I The Seven Senses of Fishes. — Mr Matthias iT>nnn writes chattily of the sea, and tfie nenies needed to live therein. How the fish from humans in the senses common to iboth is a curious inquiry exciting the in■terest of the reader; but more inviting still the speculative passage of this article on Ithe possession of two extra senses by the !fiahes of the sea. These are described as an 'electric dermal sense and a magnetic dermal Ijense. The electric dermal sense is found. uiccording to Mr Dunn, in the lateral lines of This sense tells of the approach of Otorms. In Mevagissey Bay in the winter, Jjfor many years prior to 1896, herrings kept priding themselves along the shores for spawning purposes, but were difficult to catch. 'At last it was found that these fish would Vush into deep water before the coming of Utorms, conseqeuntly the men moored their Vbots across their track) and waited for the ■event. Again and again it was proved that Uhey always left the shore, sometimes ten 'or twelve hours before the coming storm. iThe possession by fish of the extra sense is largued from their migrating and homing activities. Mackerel, herring, and pilchards tawim without error to their desired spawning beds, sheltered homes and pleasant feeding •grounds. They have no guides to their desired haven, and some magnetic principle is Bupposed to assist in guiding them. The Food of Fishes.— Mr F. G. Aflalo, in the Cornhill, says there are but few vegetarians among fish, the tench and grey mullet Wing, perhaps, the only British species with tastes. The carp is sometimes designated as a vegeterian ; it is, however, highly that the fish, while to all appearance devouring water plants, is in reality Engaged in eating the small molluscs that " adhere to the lower surface of their prumpled leaves; and small frogs are known \\o be very killing carp baits on warm sumi'aer eveningß. As a rule, the coarse fish have very varied tastes, the barbel and its allies being remarkable for the diversity of their fare, judged, at any rate, by the somewhat dubious evidence of successful baits. Fishing Lines.— Considerable curiosity, says "Fisherman," exists as to the effect ■of sea water upon variously varnished enk •\nes. Dressings of varnish or oil as a rule lender the lines easier to handle and lessen the possibility of tangles for the hand liner, but they undoubtedly perish the lines, lie -Japanese have a vegetable dressing for the

latest silk lines they have made which is spoken highly of by anglers and hand liners. AfteV using silk twists m sea water the gut should bo cut of? the hooks, the hooks rubbed with an oily rag and put away, and the lines thoroughly washed in fresh, water and dried. They dry quickly on a frame winder or stretched out. The life of a silk twist is not at any time lengthy, however, and if the cost of it is considered, •cne should not expect to be able to use it more than three time 3. One advantage possessed by silk lines over thread is that they can be got to tKe bottom with less lead. "Very Like a Whale."— At Aranella, near Palermo, they have just caught a very rare fish indeed. They have agreed to cail it the "tub fish." It was 3yds long, 2yds deep, weighed a ton, and had a skin tougher than a costermonger's donkey, since hammers couldn't break it. " Perseveranza " says that few people see the " tub fish in a life time. No doubt. It certainly had no business to be around in October.