ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2612, 6 April 1904, Page 55

ANGLING.

Bx Jock Scgit.

To See-perfect fisSie.-raan 70a Tequire more excellencies than lie usually 10 be found iv such a small space *J Is allotted to s lean's carcass. — TiJiKin (jiLuoan.

Readers ire invited to contribute item's oflooal Babinj neici for insertion iv this cotuiv.u. For insertion in the ensuing »s3ue tSey should Teach Dunodiu by Jloudnj li I gilt's mail.

BASK NOTPS*

A number of very fin© rainbow and other species of trout from R-otorua, averaging from 101b to 151b in weight, and a superb brown trout, turning the scale at 29jrlb, caught . in the Waiwera Stream, Clinton, have been despatched by the local tourist agerat, Mr Moon, for the New Zealand Court in the St. Louis Exposition. The trout were stuffed and mounted by Mr E. Jennings, of the Museum, and should form a fine feature amongst the exhibits from New Zealand. The specimens were photographed on Monday by the Witness photographer, and the picture should be on© of lively interest to th© angling fraternity.

Notwithstanding that fishing licenses ar© dated to expire on April 15, the gazetted date is tbe 30th of tbat month, and ' olders of licenses may fish until the latter date. Th© Opihi.— Fishing at the Lower Opilii, Mr F. Tasker landed a trout sealing 151b, and Mr P. Scaly two fish of 161b and 17^1b respectively. They were taken with minnow, from the "boats, in Bourke's pond. Our (Tiinaru Herald) correspondent writes : — A basket of 61 fine fish was secured by Mr A. Terrass one -afternoon in the Opihi, near the Pleasant Point bridge, all taken with the fly. This good fortune ought to cheer the local fishermen, though th© season is nearly over now ; for up till tho present fly-fishing has been most disappointing, very little else but sprats rewarding the best efforts. Eels. — Mr Jonathan Bell, of Rangiora, caught an eel in a water-race on his farna which measured 4ft 7in in lengih, 15in in girth, and weighed 2.11b. About a fortnight ago an eel almost exactly the same size and weight was caught m a water-race on Mr Buss's Ricton Farm in the same neighbourhood. The water-races are fed by the Oust, and the fish find their way down from the river. Eels over 20Tb in weight ha-v© previously been caught in the race on Mr Buss's farm. — Lyttelton Times.

Fishing at Lake Rotorua. — The Waikato Argus of March 23 says: — "Trout fishing at Lake Rotorua during the past six days has been exceedingly good with fly and minnow. The total numfoer of fish caught was 161, and their weight 6771b The largest weighed 141b. Messrs Morton (Wellington) lies ffiotorual and Tisdale JWeUinsfcozx)

each caught 12-i3ounders. Many others ranged from 101b to 81b. Motor launches a>-o in great request both for fishing and pleasure Lo tho principal sights. There aro a fair number of visitors in Rotorua. The weather is settled."

A Reward for Eels Caught.— To^ prevent the destruction of trout by eels the Wellington Acclimatisation Society has instituted payment (by weight) for all large eels caught in Wellington rivers. A reward of Id per lb is given for any eel over 51b in weight, and in the ease* of eels over 101b an additional bonus of 6d each is given. On Saturday Mr Yon Stunner, acting for tho society, bought from some Upper Hutfc Maoris four ■aels, the heaviest of which turned the scale at 301b, the others being respectively 251b, 201b, and 121b.

Canterbury Notes. — Anglers obtained some excellent sport on the Lower Selwyn. Messrs Godfrey and Brightling obtained 21 nice fish between them. Mr C. Morris landed several trout with the fly, including one splendid fish weighing over 81b. Messrs Lav-ary and Biggins took a basket of nine good-sized trout, and Messrs Woods, Cheeseman, R. Duffy, Webb, and Hynes also did well.

The Otago Acclimatisation Society during the season dealt with about 1,188,750 fish as follows: — Ova — Loch Levon trout, 57,000; Rainbow trout, 186,000. Fry— Brown trout, 634,000; Lech Lev-en trout, 132,000; Scotch Burn trout, 87.000; and Brook trout, 37,000; and also yearlings of various snecies, 7750; making a, total of 945,750 fish and 243,000 ova.

la the Opilii, Rangitata, and Temuka Rivers recently some \ery good baskets, including fish of from 121b to 16'b, were obtained.

A Lassoed Salmon. — Mr R M. Laurie writes to the editor of the Field as follows: — Sir, — The following may be interesting to some of your readers, and I should like to know if a similar experience has been, recorded in your columns. I wa« fishing on Loch Vaitos, Isle of Lewis, and rose and struck, and apparently hooked, a salmon. As I was fishing with a 12ft Castle Connel trout rod with a rather short line, the gillie proposed that I should play it from the boat instead of landing to do so, which ia th© usual custom. The fish appeared to be sulky, hugged the bottom of the loch, and never attempted to jump, and when* after following it about the loch for 55 minutes, I brought ifc up to the side of the boat, it appeared' tail first — not foul hooked, or, indeed, hooked at all, but, as we discovered whoa we got it in the net, it was- simply held by the gut being looped round ite tail and caught in the hook of the fly ; in fact, lassoed round th© tail, the hook never having pierced it at all. The fish was never able to jump, as his tail was always kept tip too high, but had he beeji able to do co the inevitable moment of slack line would have released him ; as it was, the moment he was in the net the loop feil off frojn. his tail, and merely left the mark where it had been. Th". fish weighed s|lb. He was probably not a taking fish, but merely rolled over the fly, doubling the hook over his back, and the act of striking must have caught the -gut in. the hook.

Lecture on Fly Fishing. — At th© Gresham Angling Society Mr G. J. Chatterton lec■tured on "Fly Fishing" before a large attendance of members. Among other points the lecturer remarked on the fact that very few flies, however well "built," were correct copies of th© natural insects. H© thought that ■the body of the fly, its shape, and colouring were the attraction to the fish, the wings being of minor importance. With ref©renc© to lines, he considered a heavily tapered lift© far preferable to a level one, or one of lighter build, as with the former a longer and straighter cast could ba made.— The Field.

Rainbow Trout. — A remarkable photograph of rainbow trout in the. Fairy Spring, near Rotorua, attracted a good 1 deal of attention in Parliament House. The Fairy Spring is one of th© sights of Rotorua. It wells up out of th© ground, and flows in- a stream 4-OOyds long into Lake Rotorua. Th© photograph showed hundreds of the trout in the clear spring, literally as thick as they could swim. A few weeks later millions of fry would ris© from the sands of this spring and find! th©ir way down to R-otorua. The surprising success' of these fish in Rotorua is all the more remarkable when it is remembered that s nino years ago there "was not -a rainbow trout in the lake. Last year a fish weighing 21b was caught by Captain Laecelles, an English visitor.

Two Fish on One Flight (from th© Field). — Being somewhat of a wanderer, I seldom see the Field regularly, very frequently devouring the contents of half a dozen cr more copies at one sitting in order to make up for lost time. A few days since I tackled a batch, and read an account of tho above incident from the pen of Mr Harding Cox. A somewhat similar incident occurred to me about the middle of June. T was up stream worm-fishing th© river Bandon. some little distance above th© village of Innishannon. 1 sat down on a small island to lunch, allowing the gut trace, to whiob was attached a two-hooked tackle on th© Stewart principle, to remain in the water so that the gut should not become hard. A brandling worm, I may cay, was on the flight. On taking th© rod up after lunch I found that the lino was entangled in some weeds, and, on extricating it, saw that an eel about lOin long was on, and, as usual, had twisted itself and the cast into a tangle. Putting my foot on the combination I out th© c©l's head and shoulders off, and when about to exteicat© th© flight, discovered that, \vhile the beheaded fish was hooked through th© lip by the bottom hook, a second eel, about 4in in length, was attached to the upper hook. Thinking it a rather strange occurrence, I left both eek and flight intact and put th© lot into a solution of formalin, but w'her© they ar© now I cannot say. — Cherry Brandy. In looking at the Field, I see a correspondent, P. Mahon, de&cribes how he nearly caught two pikes on on© bait at th© same time. Th© following is an extract of an old fishing diary of mine, which shows how I did oatch two at the same- tinie with one bait: — "Fishing on Ecton Water, -caught two pike with one bait at th© same time gorge- fishing. First fish gorg-ed the bait and afterwards threw it up the line; se-cond fish took strung bait and ran with it. Th© line evidently got under the gills, and I pulling one side and the hooked on© the other. side-, and crossing ov:a % got the line like in a clip-knot under both gills, and I pulled so as to get both their heads together, and drew them both to the shallow side, and without assistance landed them both. One fish weighed 4£lb, and th© other 41b."— W. T.

Halcyon on Reels. — Some time ago, in answer to a correspondent, I gave some hints on the choice of a rod. Another of ray readers wishes me to give my ide-as on

reels and lines for different kinds of fishing. I have therefore great pleasure in doing so. With respect to the. real, it should bo selected to balance the rod, for one that is too light or too heavy will not do at all. For fly fishing, say, with a lO^ft rod, I prefer an ebonite reel, the edges bound with German eilver. The only objection is that they are very brittle, and a fall on to stones by th© river-side may ruin on© for ever. The cheek should be mado of steel, and easy running. I need hardly warn my readers against buying a reel of any kind with a, crank handle, as these are now considered almost obsolete, th© revolving plat© handles having quite taken their place, for with them th© line cannot catch at a critical moment and so caus© a break. For salmon fishing 1 like a gun metal reel with steel works, ac they more equally balance a heavy 18ft rod, and the proper balance of rod and red takes a great deal of work from the arms in casting. For roach and other kinds of coarse fishing, again, I prefer ©bonite, as that material is impervious to th© action of dairip and ' wet, which often caus© 'the wooden reels to swell, and consequently stick in running, which again may bring about disaster. Slater's patent combination reel oannot be beaten, as it has bars to prevent overrunning of th© line, and ak© has an optional cheek, so that it can ba converted' into a free-running Nottingham reel or one with stiffer action. A further advantage of this reel is the ease with which it is taken to pieces to. de&n. Another very good reel for this kind of fishing is th© Coxon reel, or "Ariel," as it is termed. Iv is mad© of ebonite and wire spokes, and has a veity large drum, so that the line is wound in very quickly. This reel, however, is somewhat costly. The proper size of reel for a lO^ft fiy rod is 2£in, for a salmon rod 4-^in, and for a coarse fishing rod 3in. For a pik© rod I again advocate ebonit© — say, either a Slater combination or a Coxon "Ariel" of 4£in. One word more respecting reels. dean th© works regularly, and thoroughly oil them with the finest sp&rm oil, applied with a camel's hair pencil.