BANK NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2603, 3 February 1904, Page 55

BANK NOTES.

The Silverstream — Some fishermen have been plying the rod in the head waters of the Silverstream lately, but the river is much too low to admit of much sport. The stream seems to be alive with young trout. — Taieri Advocate.

The Kakanui. — Writing on the 31st January, "F.G." says-: — "The Kakanui River has been extremely low; in fact, I have noc seen it so low foi many years ; consequently there has> been no fishing to speak of, and there is no use anglers coming to this river till the weather changes. The Waitaki has been in fair order, and some good trout takcci, but nothing to tho quantity in former seasons ; 'n fact, the weather has beMi so hot and dry for the last six weeks that very little sport could be had. and the chances are that now there will not be large oatches this yeai I will let you know if the streams in this district get in order. Meantime rods mu-t remain idle."

The Waipahi. — Writing on the l«t inst.. "W.W." eaye: — "This river is very low and clear, and it i« very little use fishing. I have been away from home a s;ood deal lately, and I have not bad time to fish, nor to hunt up fishing notes, but there has beem very little doinpr. I bs-heve the Pomahaka is iv good trim for ihe cricket at present. I suppose you would be thinking I had left he country: it '< cuch j, time sin-ce you had a line from me "

The Oreti — M Win. Young, one- of cur most successful anglers, says the FmitbJand Times, landed 15 very nee fbh on the Oreti River, with thf fiv lie- rtl.-o found a larae fish, which had got into shallow water and could not swim out, lying dead.

Hedgehops. — The Hodgehope correspondent )f the Winton Record writes thus,: "Trout are not learly plentiful as they used to b& in the ptienns here, and if "■omething in the way of restock ng th m i is not ione there will be very iow mext -ea~on. Ec-ls ar<* getting very plentiful again, and quite a large number have been caught this eea=on. Talking of eels brings

paper. Someone wanted to knew whether eels spawned like trout. No; the young eels ar& carried in the 'wind goul,' as it is commonly called. The most I have seen is thx-eo. They are to be .een about November, I think, but I am not quite sure, as I have taken no notice for a number of ycais."

Lovell's Flat Cresk.— Tho Bruce Herald says Mr James Nelson, for one day's fishing last week in the Lovell'e Fla<- CreeJc, obtained 25 trout. One, weighing 121b, was caught in the "Willow Pool" in the creek in Mr Alex. Nelson's garden ; and the others, which averaged from lib upwards, were captured higher up the stream. Not a bad day's basket for this district !

Condition of Ehers About Winton. — The Wimton Record says : "The rivers are in a very low condition iust now, and anglers have not been doing vary well for the past few weeks. Mr William Young, one :>f our most successful anglers, landed 15 very nice fish on the Oreti River, with the fly. He also found a large fi-h which had got into very shallow water and :ould not swim out lying dead." Drought. — The drought i« having a bad effect on fish. Most of the streams are exceedingly low, making poaching very easy. Lagoon= are drying up, and perch dying wholesale. — Tapanui Courier. — A dairy farmer "states that trout in ! ome ~>i the Wycdham streams are dying owing to the heat of the water at present.

Perch Fishing. — I mad© another trip to tho ranal crossing the Henley-Berwick road about a week ago in quest of : cme of the big fieh reported to be there, but failed to get anything much over half a pound. I made a capital basket as far as number v. r as concerned, and found the perch to take the minnow rather greedily at times. Mamy of the fish caught were very small, but the take was on the whole well worth gohig for. Some yoan°«ters in a flatty who went up on to tho lake seemed to have been doing well among the flounders, and brought back some be-sutiful flsh. An attempt at a deal vas not successful, the youngsters apparently not being at all anxious to make money. A pitchfork was what they angled with, and from them I learned that big perch are very often caught in the locality, though they did not say what with. The day was intensely hot. so hot that the burning sun melted the tar on the bridge, of which fact I v. as made painfully aware when I incautior=h sat down on it and essayed, to rise again.

The Waiarikiki. — Mr Wai. Gray recently -eeured about 100 trout, ranging from gib „0 lib, from the Waiarikiki, during a «veek's fishing. The stream is a tributaiy >f the Miinihau. and tho fieh were caught with the cricket.

Summoned for Netting. — The Free Press says: — Two parties resident at Port Molyneux and one at Kaitangata have been c erved with summon-ps to appear before the magistrate at Ealclutha on February 10 to answer charges of netting in streams. The streams referred to are the Molyneux near its Coal Point mouth and the lebouchure of the Puerua at Molynoux Bay. We understand it is not alleged hat the, parties were netting for trout or other mported fi-h, but the cases are being brought by the Acclimatisation Society to test Ite right to prevent tho use of flounder nets in tho tidal water referred io.

More Than a Meal. — A pa~ty consisting of Dan and Fred L-akatipu, James Wilde, and Jol>n Bmco, while n-etring at Wilisher 'Bay on WocYiesday lr.-si,. caught a monster flounder weighing 71b. It was 23in long and 14-in A-ide

Angling in Canterbury. — Thf Pi ess of tho 25th say« : — "Somo very nico -fir«h htue beer tnkev> of Inte from the Selwj'n Although the Rcnoitata, Opihi, and Oran r vers a-o in good fishing ord"i. few good iakrs have been recorded -inre la^t report This <3 party accounted foi by the fact ihot a'l Iho t-tre-ims are vecy low. and the Iran are> not leaving the tidal portions of the livers on tbo-ir jou v r.pv vp ur^an;. Thcio is al c o jbrndart natural feed a!cn« i^io coiet hn?, rc-.d unless it be om". deep holo. the artificial fly ;i5; i 5 not sufficient to induce the fish, in take. Mr A. Franks, ranger to tha South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, is busy at presant visiting? the various outivini, -Irepir- under Ins charge He reports abundant fish everywhere, and anticmates a good season for 'stripping,' should the Inspector of Fisheries decide to repeat last year's operations in the Temuka district. It is rumoured that poaching of a mild nature- ha* been gcing on, but, ac usual, it

Mr James Elder closed la=i week's sport with a total of 14 fish of various kinds end weights, from 51b upwards. They were mcritl}' taken from the waters of the Lower Opihi, which is probably the most favourite spot for fishermen in the south during the past ten days or so. Included in the haul made by a fisherman at Caroline Bay on a recent evening was a fine salmon trout, weighing 81b. A good number of these fish have been taken this season. The red spinner, claret hackle, and Thomson's favourite are the popiilar frmcy of the running 'fly, used just now by fishermen whipping the South Canterbury streams." — The same paper of the 2Sth says: — "Tirnaru fishcrme-n have had splendid sport at the Opihi this week. On Tuesday night three anglers landed six fish. The heaviest trout was a very fine one, scaling 161b. All the fish were caught on the minnow." — The Timaru Pest of the 27th says: — "Some good sport has lately. been obtained by Timaru anglers in the Opihi River. Near the mouth the other day an 181b trout was landed by Mr G. Bowker, and several othere were successful in securing Rood baskets, including fish weighing 4-lb, 51b, 81b and 9lb. Fishing near Pleasant Point a basket of 34, averaging |lb, was obtained in a few hour?." — A recent is=ue of the Christchurch Prefs says : — "Some very find trout ha>ve been caught near the mouth of the Rak&ia during the past few weeks. Mr D. Earman landed fish weighing 131b, 101b, and 71b ; Mr S^otb, fish scaling 131b, 121b. and 10lb. Mr Dobson (England) caught some splcmdid £&h. Mr Dendy was successful in landing trout weighing 141b, 1311b, 101b, and 81b. and Mr^J. Cunningham secured one specially fine fish turning the rcale at 141b. The river is still full of live bait, ard is giving pretty eport. Some really 'good baskets .have bf en secured from the Sclwyu of late." — The Timaru Post writes : "Fislrng in the Opihi for one week Mr James Elder secured 14 fk-h weighing 51b, 51b, 161b, Sib, 61b, 101b, 121b. 141b, 181b, 91b. 15lb, 141b, 101b and lllb respectively. The total weight was 1541b. They were all landed with the fly, and were in eplendicl order." — The Temuka correspondent of the Timaru Herald says: — "Some splendid sport is boing had these last few days. La*t night Mr Grant and Mr Mason, a Dunedin angler, obtained some fine fish, Mr Grant securing one scaling 151b and Mr Mason one of over Sib. besides a considerable number of fish, some of them ranging up to 21b and 31b. Ail the fiuh were caught near the mouth of the river." — A spit of shingle has been formed pcross the mouth of the Ashburton Rivei, r.;id anglers find that, owing to the dead water, the fish are not taking well.

Some Good Catches. — Accounts scmt to Auckland from Okoroire by fishermen stayng there state that the fishing the^re is splendid just now. Some extraordinary takes have bsen obtained by visiting anglers. One party had no less thara 70 fish displayed on the verandah of the hotel last week, -carce any being under four pounds in weight.

Angling at Rotcrua. — According to the Hot Lakes Chronicle the number of trout taken from lakes in the Rotorua district from the Bth to the 14-th ult. numbered 215. That is the number reported, but there is reason to believe that the actual catch was much in excess of this number. The aggregate weight of these fish was 10071b. Of the total number of fish secured 67 were caught with the fly. Good fishing continues at Atiamuri. The fish at Galatea, too, are in fine* condition and plentiful.

A New Amglers' Association. — The Dunstan Times says: — "An enthusiastic meeting of anglers was held in the Clyde library on Thursday la;t. It was decided to form a club, t' be called the Clyde Anglers' Assoc'ation, and the following office-bearers were elected : — President, Rev. Mr Fitchett : vice-preeident, Mr D. M'Connoehie. sen. ; rangers, Messrs S. A. Stevens and W. Gye ; c <?cretary a^d treasurer, Mi PI. E. Stevens. The meeting was evidently very kesai on the suppression of illegal fishing, and we can assure any one caught poaching that they will certainly be brought before the 2ourt. Some discussion took place on ihe quet-tion of restocking the Fraser and other local streams, and the matter was left in the hands of the executive."

Tapanui Anglers' Association. — A meeting of the Tapanui Anglers' Association was held in M'Cann's Hotel on Saturday, January 23, Mr John Howat j(Presid?n-) in the chair. The ms-ttea of charge foi the ase of fishermen's huts was left over in the meantime, and a site was decided upon for the hue at Upper Pcmahaka, at tbe junction of the Pomahaka and Spy Taw creek. Ths .econd competition iras fixed for Saturday, February 15. The bouncar'cs for the adult competition were fixed from Ihe mouth of the Woipahi to the mouth of the Rankleburn cieek, md for the youths' motch, from Conical HilltJ Bridge to Smith's ford Entries close on February 6, and ihe youths' competition will be an open one. The winner of last competition A'ill carry a handicap of 30 ncr cent., and any lesral hair may be used. Messrs Mason. R. A. Rodger, and Geo. Howat were appointed a committee to allot boundaries, and c committee meeting will be held on Monday, February 8. In connection with future competitions, it was decided that no competitor fwh on the river between the time of allotment of boundaries and day of competition. It is intended to have the work of erecting a hut at Upper Pomahaka pushed on a-s quickly as possible, so as t- be of benefit this sea on Before adiournmg, the meeting pa^cd a resolution thanking the chairman of the Tuapeka County Council for opposing the attempt to have the road leading to Leithen Gorge

A clairv farmer states- that trout in some of the Wynrlham streams are dying owing to the heat of the water at ore=ent.