ANGLING. TROUT IN THE MATAURA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2505, 26 March 1902, Page 54

ANGLING.

TROUT IN THE MATAURA.

By Jock Scott.

v*" \* >1* ftp ft f nftst a»twriOM j»u require more cxoeilraoist U»» ■JtStMflj t» b* r««a< ia cue* a imill space as i« allaucl to ■ Mjta'tViMUf.— Pz«k*£ Cimoct. 1 liflin an iarlted :o eaatrlbute keen of local Othiog aewi Itar ißMlrfata thlf eolaaa. For imtrcioD in th« caiuiu; iisue ttl/ *j*li r«moD DaucdiD by iltndtr nlfhi t mail.

' BASK NOTEB. Mandeville, March 17.— As is the case llmost everywhere in Southland just now bhe rivers are all very low and the fish are very shy. Nevertheless, some fairly good baskets sre taken from the Waimea streams occasionally, Mr W. Jones, from Gore, getting some good baskets. Among a few others D. Mill, jun., generally comes off ,very lucky, getting some good fish at uiglit .with the fly. The Otamete is seldom or never fished now, as it is in a very low condition, and unless there is a good breeze, there is little cr no use going out. Another (tood basket has just been taken by Mr W. Jones thip morning, containing something like 22 fish. 361b. The above were caught on th^ Waimea stream. — D. M. Mimihau, March 20. — The late heavy rains have caused a small spate in our streams, and they are now in fine tnm. The harvest precludes our local men from having even nn hour's angling, and no visitors are putting in -an appearance. I remember a few years »?o getting the best Tspon ever I got at this time of the year with sucli weather as at j preseni. r.s the largo fi>li are coming up the stream on to the gravel beds. — W. P. S. | O:-cti. — ! cannot report any sensational ratchcß sir.cc my last, some time ago. This I\ps been the worst season for anglers so far. The genera! opinion is (hat the stripping tfor ova (this river supplies the lot), the netting carried on at the mouths, the large number of license-holders, and the great number of shags, have all eontiibuted to reduce the number of fifeb. A few still try their luck at odd time=, but no one has made a basket, worth reporting. — Angler, Lumsden, March 25. \ Arthurton.— The Waipahi is still very low H::d clear, little or no fishing being done. I have not heard of any takes last week. It is raining ihis morning, which will (if it continue*) put the stream in better condition.—J. R. S. Another "marked" ea'mon recently turned nip at the Barm fisberieb in Londonderry. The fish in quf&tioii v.ii caught on the 28th of JanuAiy last yeir at the Foyle hatchery, End after beiue specially marked it was at once released to its natural element. After an interval of about se\en months it again turned up in tbe Fovle on the 2ud August. Jn the period that elapsed between the 28th January and 2nd August the fish gained about 51b in weight, as at the time of his release at the end of January he scaled 6lb, and was about 29\inches in length, whereas on his capture on the 2nd of Augu-t he was lound to have grown to 30J inches in length und to have increased to 111b in weight. The King Fish. — A fine specimen of that very rare denizen cf the dee.p. the opah. or kin^ fish, wos recently ■ antured off the English coa-t. This fish, which is one of the mo-t porgooubly-eoloured of the finny tribe, is tendered very remarkable by the magnificent blend of colours which it displays when in a fresh condition. The upper part of the back and bider are of a rich green, and above and beneath the lateral lines are a number cf yellowish-white spots, from wli'.i-li the hh'.i e'eriws the name of luna. Fro-pec-(_s in the South-west of Ireland. — "^"cent developments would point to a hope'll prospect for anglers in the south-west of Ireland next season The conservators of the County Kerry Fisheries report that during the past season 377,000 salmon, 65,000 white, and 35.000 Lough Leven trout were artificially hatched out and enlarged from the hatcheries «t Killarney, Killorglin, Caragh'i Lake, slid Waterville. With the view of eueourashis: such efforts the Department of Agriculture has during the year given grants amounting to £50 for ova hatched » er and above the numbers brought out in 1899 in the distnct« named. — Dublin pa-i ■>-. Growth of Fibhes. — The recently Issued revolt rf t'. e Pc-olti&h Fishery Board contain', nn interesting paper by Dr Fulton upon the rate of growth among Era fish, such »•! cod, hae'dedc. -uul whiting. The results dealt with in Dr Fulton* paper ai^ founded i>v. tho measurement of over 30,000 fi.sliet, of which over 18,000 were- whitings, 9,000 haddock.-, and o\er 2000 cod. The re,uits ■went to show that the average growth of th" adolescent whitme h about 4j, inches in .1 3'c:tr, and that while a few spawn when one year old the great majority spawn first in their sscoud year, and d few probably not until three year-3. of age Tl c cod grows mere rapidly than the whiting, increasing by ovc-'- 6 inches a year, and spawning for the Sr.-r thre when three, hut mostly when foi;r ypa-j old. The haddock increases anuiiaHy by 1 parly 5 ir.( bet, and spawns when two and threo ycai- old I One af I'M norm, says " R.T." in Field and and Stre>un. I Iliouuht I would go down the river and tn i ; . T had on my hook a live minnow, and in a little whilo had a strike, and I hooked my fir=t fibh, which seemed to ■be quite a large one. I re-clod him where I could see him. and found it was a large pike, 25in or 30in long. I pulled him up to my boat, but when I lifted him from the .water he svas as light as a feather. I measured him and found he was just 30in long. and should have weighed 81b or 91b, while Qic only wriehed ?\b. He was just skin and bone*. I killed him, took my knife and cut him open, and found a live lizard, sin long, in his stomach. The reptile was as black as coal and very lively, living 24 hours after I took him from his prison. AT IT AGAIN". Once more the lonely fisherman Dusts off his book of flies; Likewise his reel and pocket flask, Also his last year's lies. —Chicago Xews>

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —ln the season there are invariably any amount of fresh river trout in the Oreti, and also in some of the other streams I could mention, but in the Mataara up this way there is not a ghost of a cign of one. My opinion is that they are stopped in the-ir upward progress by the falls at Mataura. A ladder erected at the falls and another at the dam, which I believe is a little higher up, would to a considerable extent help to rectify matters. Trout taking ad\antage of the ladder would be able to proceed upstream to the more suitable places for spawning purposes, and ac a natural result we might reasonably expect to find a considerable increase of fish in our ri\ er and its tributaries. Answers there are in the Gore. Waikaka, Mandeville, Riversdale. Athol, and Wakaia districts who would gladly welcome a visit from the fish of the lower water?. How we all long to hook some fine fresh river trout of, say, 61b or 71b, even supposing that he was to get fairly started down stream with the line over his shoulders, apparently bent on making for far-off Fortrose. What excitement, and what running and racing there would be, and should the angler eventually have the pleasure of seeing him safely landed, what joy ! —I am, etc., Jaites Milne Riversdale, March 17 TO THE EDITOE. SiE, —By kindly referring 10 my letter of 17th inst., I believe you wiU find that I wrote fresh run trout, not fresh river trout, as published. Let me try and be more explicit. For instance, when sn angler says he has hooked a fresh run fish he means he has hooked a trout fresh from the tidal waters or estuary. And these arc the sort of trout I would like to see up this way. From the falls right up to Garston you will at places find a Jair amount of trout, but these trout do not eeem to go down to the fait water. If they did, probably they would never be able to get back again. In the Oreti the trout I am at present most interested in generally make their way up-stream at the first flood in February, and when the spawning is over I believe most of them make thfir way back again to the estuary. —l am, etc., James Milxe. Riversdale, March 20.