BANK NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2647, 7 December 1904, Page 59

BANK NOTES.

' The Teviot. — "Angler," writing from Roxburgh on the sth inst., says the weather I during last month was anything but good | for angling. On the 27th ult. Messrs t'air- ! bairn and Shiels brothers were out at the i bridge huts, the first named getting 17 fish (the- heaviest silb), and the. Messrs Shiels getting 15 fish between them. Mr Peck has been getting some nice fish lately in the Molyneux, up to 2£lb; and Messrs Cook, Hart, Kinaston, Elder, and Bates have been getting fair baskets during the week. I Angling in Southland. — The Western Star of the 29th alt. contains the following: — "It may te mentioned that excellent trout fishing is to be had in the Western District, and devotees of Isaak Walton could not do better than come West for an extended' stay to indulge hi their favourite pastime. The Aparima, with a. course of 65 miles, has low banks, is wade&ble, and contains large numbers of brown trout. Large sea trout up to 131b weight have lately been caught' with artificial minnow in front of and not more than 30yds from the Aparima Hotel. The river may be reached from Riverton, Thornbury, Otautau, and Nightcaps, at each of which places accommodation is to be had. The Otautau stream is a good one. It has a course of 12 miles, is partly wade-able, with a deep landing. The same remarks apply to the Opio and Wairio streams. Etal Burn, a tributary of the Aparima, is a mountain stream, wadeable. with banks high and clear, and a good landing. The Pourakino, near Riverton, has a long estuary, and is frequented by sea-run Irout. The Waiau is snow-fed, and is unfordable tip to Lake Manapouri. It is a rapid, deep river of clear, cold water, carrying fresh water right out to the surf at the mouth. The banks are mostly forest clad up to Clifden. Above that the east bank is nearly clear of forest. It is partly Wiadcable, and mostly fishable. from the mouth upwards. In this vicinity there are also thp .A^on Burn,, the Orawia. Merton Burn. Lill Stream, Dean Burn, Wairaki (reached from Waiau Bridge hv a road of eight railed). Grassy Stream, Ligar Burn, Monowai River. Lake Monowai, Mararoa, and Whitestone Rivers, and Lakes Mararoa, Manaponri. and other resorts." The Tengawai.— The Timaru Herald says that despite the advancement of the season, good baskets of fish are still being caught in th© Tengawai. Near jSutherlands, Mr F. Tasker took out 44- trout in a few hours, and Captain Hughes obtained good sport ■at Gave during two days he spent there last week. Fishing at Rotorua.— The largest catch of fish this season was taken on Lake Rotorua on the 27th November. One- gentleman caught 15 trout in two hoiirs, pne weighing 101b. A party at Rotoiti caught 39 during the day, weighing 1191b. Several other parties were also very successful. An exchange writes: — "Trout are reported to be very numerous in Lake Rotorua at present. Anglers are of opinion • that if large, quantities are not caught the lake will become overstocked and the fish will nm out of feed." The Christchurch Press of the sth inst. aays: — "There appears just now to be plenty of trout in Lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti. The Hot Lakes Chronicle states that a trawling party of four, on the launch Mourea, captured 59 fine trout, chiefly in Rotoiti, on the 27th ult. The total weight turned the scale at 119ib. When this weight was reached the party ceas&d fishing, fearing another four-pounder being caught, which additional weight would have I rendered the boat and passengers (according to the recent fishing regulations) liable to a penalty. Messrs Brebner and party, in the launch Rainbow, trawling in Lake Rotorua, captured 15 fine fish in two hours, one of which turned the scale at 101b. During Sunday and Monday 203 trout ar«* known to have been taken from Lake Rotorua, the aggregate weight of which was 6Wlb." Fishing on the West Coast.— The West-po'-t Times says:— "Mr R. Cole has so far made the catch of the angling season, in a trout 71b in weight and 27in long. The fish has been photographed, and a picture will bo sent to thp illustrated papers asv a specimen of thp fishing to be obtained in tho BuUer River." Salmon —The Tima-u Herald of the 26th ult. says: — "The fijst salmon, hundreds of which were liberated from the Hakafaramea Hatchery some months ago, were caught in the Waitaki with rod and line this week. Anglers at the mouth of the Opihi and Rangitata should b-p on the look-out, for the salmon are great traveller 1 ?, and may make thpir appearance at any time." Visiting Anglers. — Mr and Mrs Mervyn W. Herapath. who r-Pcentlv arrived in Wel■■ington from England to takp advantage of the splendid trout-fishing to be had in the colony, brought with them a complete military "amp outfit, and (says the New Zealand Times) intend fishirg streams in

Ihe Urewera country during the next two months. Angling in Canterbury. — The following paragraphs are clipped from Canterbury newspapers : — 26th ult. — Since the opening of the angling season \ery few heavy fish have been caught, either at the mouths of the Rangitata, Rakaia, or Ashburton Rivers. On Wednesday evening Mr W. Huston landed four fish at the mouth of the Ashburton River, weighing in all 20^1b. The two heaviest were 81b and 7£lb respectively. At the same time and place Mr Geo. Kidd grassed a well-conditioned fish weighing 81b, and Mr G. H. Berryman one scaling 51b. 29th ult. — Some good sport has been obtained by anglers during the last day or two in the Ashburton River. Mr D. Terris, fishing at the mouth of the river, landed 26 fish, the heaviest weighing 31b. Another angler caught 13, averaging |lb, in the upper portion of the river. Mr H. Sinclair caught 50 fish at the mouth of the river, ranging from 21b to 121b. Other anglers were also successful in obtaining good catches.

30th ult.— A Coldstream angler, fishing on recent evenings in the Rangitata River made catches of four trout, weighing in tne aggregate 121b, and on another occasion a number of trout of various sizes the catch weighing 271b. He reports that the Kangitata is in -splendid fishing order • £,?, ~ On Frid ay last 17 fieh, weighing 86£lb, were caught in the Lower Selwyn. Fifty fish, all good, were caught in the same river as the result of four nights' fi |vu g- In one ni S ht ' 10 fish, weighing 53£lb, were caught. Ist inst.— Fishing at the mouth of the Ashburton River on Tuesday evening, an angler landed two nice fish, the heaviest of which turned the scale at 61b. The Anglers' Hut at Rankleburn — 4nglers desiring to use the Rankleburn hut may obtain a key from Mr John Howat, lapanui, on complying with the Ota^o Acclimatisation Society's regulations ™£ aS ? 3ratl r- cl B «P°ri*-— Exaggerated reports of aaghng are too frequently rife, and XT**™ 5 are ,° ft f? Warned for publishing \ T'rt S& Wh< ? blame in such instances, while they are quite justified in complaining ara apt to lose sight of the fact that newf-pai-era cannot very well do otherwise than accept reports m good faith, and unless tfcey are too obviously stretched, publish them. Rentes writes to the Christchurch Press on the subject as follows:— "Stir — In a recent issue pf your paper, under the hoadmg of 'Angling Notes,' a paragraph appeared stating that two anglers had secured a basket of 93 trout, averaging lilb from the Opihi, in the neighbourhood SFpW ant Point. As such "statements are extremely JPirfeading, and therefore disappointing to visitors and tourists, a correction would not be out of pl a ce : and probably of interest *°, a , n ff 1 .l rs genially. The writers have nshed the Opihi successfully for many seasons past, and can authoritatively state .c*t no such average weight is obtainable from these waters, as. a good catch from thws would average Jlb> but even that would be the exception, as few fish of ov»r j*lb are takea and fish of l£lb are rarely «?en at this time of the year, although in tLe latter haM of the season heavie- fish are commonly taken. In August and September as soon as the spawning is fiL-ished, the better class of fish go to sea, anddo not commence to return tfll the end of December the big runs taking place in February and March. It is extremely disappointing for men to arrange a holiday anticipating some good fishing, and then nni fcha.t informants have exaggerated in no -small degree ti»e possibilities of certain waters.

An exchange, which republishes the letter, says:— "Asked his opinion is to the letter, Mr C. Hassell, who has fished' the waters m the locality of Pleasant Point for the past seven or eisrht years, stated that he agreed with every word of it, and it was ? „ re S rett «d that misleading reports should be bent abroad as to the fish obtainable m different waters." Fishing in New Zealand.— The followingremarks are taken from the Field, but, as wjl be seen, only refer to a small portion of the fishing m New Zealand .-—"The angler . who contemplates visiting New Zealand n°- j u ot k ett <jr than write to Mr W. H. Tisdall, 153 ILambton quay, Wellington, ij"'- *" & n ? w cate logue, which, in addition to its list of angling, requisifcies, contains an excellent guide to the North Island _ fishing, with a brief description of thfi principal waters and their possibilities There is r).lso 9, useful chapter of detached facts, from which vre cull the following pieces of information. It is noted that New Zealand trout rise more slowly than their Enghsh brethren, a point which the an.gler would do well to remember. It might, however, be questioned whether the true ?ompanson is not between large trout andsmall trout, rather than between trout of different 'climates. One is not accustomed to rising very bi s? fi 9 h with the fly in, Enaiand, bur whon such a piece of S iood fortune docs occur it is generally observable that the monster takes the fly with great deliberation. W-cv^rtheless, the moral to be drawn from Air Tisdall's statement is a valuable one. Not unconnected with it. too, is a statement that drawn g-ut is quite unnecessary, even tne finest undrawn beics only needed when waters are very low "and clear. What, therefore, in England would be considered a staut cast is the thing for New Zealand. Licenses, available throughout the colony fcr the whole season (October 1 to April 30), may be obtained from Mr Tisdall at the cost of £1 ; t.her~. is, however, a ejallant reduction of the oharae to 5s for ladies and schoolboys. Half-season licenses (from December 20) are available in the Wellington district only, and cost 12s 6d. Every trcut taken that measures less tha.n 9in in length must bo returned to the wator A list of thp approximate number of trout fiV liberated in different waters by tlx- Wellington Acclimatisation Society gives a good icea of die means by which New Zealand has achieved such remarkable results. Over 115 waters have been stocked, in a few instances with hundreds of fry, but in fcho great majority with thousands, and in fully half the cases with many thousand?. The Hutt Riror has naturally received most attention, no lesg than 599,800 fry (rainbow, fontinalis, Lochlovpn, and fario) having been turned in. The Rummahanga runs it close with a total of 520,900, while fcb.e Makakahi, the Mangatainoka. and the Ofcaki show total,, of 438.700, 357,600. and 358,100 respectively. Several other waters have received considerably over 200,000 fry, -while thri number thai has been stocked with 100,000 or over is 22, or nearly a- fifth of the total. This i-w fiibery-inaking on a grand scale."

Detective M'Grath, of Wellington, is at present on holiday leave, and is spending st few 6ay3 J». Dime&ia.