BANK NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2812, 5 February 1908, Page 64

BANK NOTES

" The Complete Angler." — Anglers may ,be- recommended to read "The Complete Angler," by Isaac Walton, of which a new amf popular edition has just been published, at Is in boards and 2s in leather, in the "Every Man" series, if only for the introduction by Andrew Lang. Here is a specimen paragraph: — "Our ancestors, apparently, u6ed only one fly at a time; in rapid rivers, witn' wet fly, "two, three, or, in. lochs like Loch Levin,' evens -four are employed. To my mind more than two only cause entanglements of the tackle. The old English anglers knew, of course, little or nothing of loch fishing, using bait iD lakes. / The great length' of tfieir , rods made .reek; less necessary, and they do not seem to have wa3ed much. A- modern angler, casting- upwards, with a 9ft rod, would have astonished ~ Walton. They dea.lt with trout less educated than ours, and tooled^ with much coarser and heavier implements'. They had no fine scruples about bait o fevery kind any more than the Scots have, and Barker loved a lob worm, fished on the surface, on a dark night. _ He was a pot fisher, and had been a coo*:" He could catch a huge basket of trout, and dress them in many different ways— broyled, calvored hot with anchovaes sauce boiled, soused, stewed, fried, battsre. with eggs, roasted, baked, calvored cold, and marilled, or potted, also . marrionated. Barker instructs my Lord Montague to fish with salmon roe, a thing prohibited and very popular in Scotland," and so on. Lang chats with his customary ease in the quaint, learned way in which he deals with subjects wide asunder as the poles. I suppose "The Complete Angler" adorns most fishermen's shelves; they cannot do better than add this one, which in the. main is from the edition by Sir Harris Nioolas printed in 1676, being the last that was revised by the author. It can be done so cheaply, too. Breeding of the Eel*. — The life mystery of the eel, ite methods of reproduction, occasionally form the subject of discussion, and as natural history throws no light on the question, observations lire the only, 'data. And these are very fallible and contradictory as a matter of course. The subject is full of interest to " anglers, asthe eel is one'of the most J vivacious enemies of the trout, and a knowledge of it* habits might simplify -dealing with him. A -controversy on the eel ie iow- going on yd' the Melbourne • Argus. "L.R." has pro> ed to his own satisfaction, and it is the general belief, that eels go to the sea. to - breed. This" Statement, which is supported by such men as Professor Grassi, Professor Caladruocio, Professor Schmidt, Dr Petersen, and other naturalists of .high standing, as well as by the fact that countless myriads of young eels, or elvers, asoend the rivers every year, has evoked a cloud of correspondence.' One man triumphantly refers to some spawn which he saw on the surface of a dam, and which contained young eels about l£in lonpr and about "the thickness of a needle. Of course this was absurd. It takes the young eel nearly 12 months to grow to that size, and it would have been more to the point if -this observer had waited until the spawn was hatched and then produced his young eels. The contention is that the eels must breed where they are, or they would soon become extinct. But this involves two fallacies. - The first is that communication with the sea"\is impossible. It •is . well known,", that eels often' travel long- distances on 'land.- The other -fallacy is that whereas they are reinforced „ by others which ' travel • overland. --" They have been seen" three or four miles from permanent waierl "travelling' -over grass in flood time 'witlfc'.oply two or three, inches- of water. 'Anßj^he tstron'ge'fjr -argument of Call is. "that no jaet yet -caught has- Been", fpudd to contaip J spawn. < Here the subject 'nia'y remainfor^.ihie week. - But as eels are plentiful everywhere, and are easily caught, it may not -be amiss to give boneet Isaac's method if -booking him. To Cook An Bel.— "-Firsf. wash him ;n «ra>er and salt^ then null off his skin below "liie ' vent or navel." and not "much further. Having done 'that, take out his guts as clean as you "can. but "wash him not ; then srive him three oiT four scotches with a. knife: nntl then put into his belly a-nd those scotches sweet herbs, an anchovy, «;nd a little nutmeg grated or cut very eVnall,- and your herbs and anehovaes mu6t also be 'cut very small i ojoA *«;» T»;tK. orood

butter and aalt. Having done this, then pull his skin over him, all but his head, which you are to cut off, to the end that you may tie his skin above that part where his head grew, and it must be so- tied as to keep all his moisture within his skin; and, having done this, tie him with tape or pack-thread to a spit, and roast him leisurely, and baste him with water and salt till his ekin breaks, and then with butter; and having roasted him enough, let what was put into his belly, and what he drips, be his sauce." And Isaac adds that when he dresses an eel thus he wishes he were as long as that which was caught in Peterborough River in the year 1667, which was a yard and three-quarters long. Anglers' Reticence.— l often wonder whether anyone in Otago and Southland is catchjng any fish at all. Some there may be who are getting some, but they keep their exploits to themselves— unless they are very new to the sport. It is not so in the north. In the course of my duties I see -most of the papers of the Dominion, and it is very rare that I see anything to. chow me in the papers of Otago and Southland that angling is not an extinct art. As fdr correspondents, they seem to be all dead. There used to be good -fishing about Wyndham, and competitions, every year. Where are they now? The Tourist Department has instructions t» keep anglers posted- in the condition "of the streams. These seem to, be rarely observed, and when the information does- oome it is asoften- as not valueless.^ It is of no value to -a would-be angler to be told that such-and-such a river is fishable. He wants to know the weather conditions and the river height. His experience will tell him the rest. Fitfully we hear of monsters being caught in the Waiau,.'' but in many cases the stories have a< slight flavour of romance. In the north it is different, because those to whose interest it is to attract visitors, report all the catches. The Rotorua ' papers teem with> accounts of catches in the lake. In Canterbury also the papers are supplied with notes. ■ But here we seem to take it as a matter of course. It is much to be desired that greater interest in angling should" be shown. ' , Tapanui Angling.— Tapanui is a worthy exception to the general run of indifference. I read in the Courier that at a recent meeting of the 'Tapanui Anglers and Deer-etalkers' Association arrangements were completed far a competition for prizes presented by Mr A. Anderson and Messrs Wilkie and Co. (Dunedin). There are 14 entries, and the water to be fished will be from tne mouth. of the Waipahi to the Burning Plains, allotments being the same as in the previous competition. Handicaps were fixed, and anglers are awaiting a fresh in > the river before naming a date for the 'competition. Salmon for the Waiau.-^The Southland Times representative* had an interview with Mr Avson after his return from the' Waiau, where* he had been selecting a suitable site a salmon hatchery. At the present time, Mr C. L. Ayson, who is a son of the chief inspector, and manager of the Government salmon hatchery at Hakataramea, is *» Oanada-for the purpose -of obtaining up to half a miilbn eggs bf the Atlantic «almon, or salmo .salar. -Cable advice has been received that Mr Charles expects to leave by the"&orangi on February 28, and it is hoped that he will be successful in bringing wit T » him the Vhole consignment of half/a~million eggs. The primary object of Mr L. F. Ayson's visit to the Waiau was to prepare for the reception of the shipment, so that they may be hatched out and the fry liberated in\the Waiau. It is the unanimous opinion of experts vhat the Waiau River ie the most suitable in th& whole of New Zealand for the Atlantic salmon. Mr Ayson was entirely successful in-finding a suitable site for the hatchery. It was necessary to have water of low temperature. The winter in Canada, when the salmon spawn, is severe, and the eggs are brought 'out in cool chambers, so that it is necessary, in order to preserve their fertility, that they should be put into water of low temperature. Within four chains of Lake Te \A.nau Mr Ayson found two springs coming out of the terrace, affording an ample supply of dear water at a temperature of 48deg., which is considered highly satisfactory. At this spot Mr Ay6on constructed a hatchery, fitted up boxes, and laid the water on, and the place is now ready for eggs. The hatchery has a capacity of half a million ova,' and an experienced man should have little difficulty in obtaining good results. Mr Ayson considers that the streams flowing into Te Anau on the eastern side are the -most suitable for young Atlantic salmon. • -• •* Foul Fishing.— The -Temuka- Leader states that considerable" attention has been drawn lately to the matter -of foul- fishing in the Opihi.- There seems "to be -no doubt that this is going on to a very large extent. In a shop in Temuka there can b*e found an appliance for joatchitg "trout that is certainly unsportsmanlike. It was taken out of the river by -Mr W. M'Callum, but to whom it belongs has not transpired. It consists ~of hooks standing out of about lin of iin gas-piping, a piece of lead, a piece of line, and so on. These are so contrived that-they sink to the bottom of the water, and are idragged along until a fish is hooked. What happens next can easily be imagined. The foregoing reminds one that there are in some districts deadly weapons, which the owners do not show to everybody. I once saw the Nokomai, a gaff that would hold a railway train. It was like an exaggerated pitchfork with the lines standing at an angle to the handle of about 45deg. In the crutch was a spring, whioh, on being released when the fish was 6truck enabled the lines, which" were barbed inside, to close in deadly embrace, and hold anything. In small streams such a wsipon is more deadly than dynamite and about as unsportsmanlike. The Rankleburn. — Messrs W. W. Mackie (Clinton)/ and B. Pinder (Mosgiel),~ and Rev. R. Mackie (South Dunedin), camped at Rankleburn hut, report (says the Tapanui Courier) fair sport. On Friday and Saturday' they landed 66 fish. Messrs A. Mason and W. -Perry are spending a month^at the - Waiau, and. Mr F. Lischner had a couple "of days there last week, obtaining a few nice fish. . Destructive Bush Fires.— The Wairarapa Daily News 'states that the Maungatarera stream is lower now. than it has been for 20 years. The smoke and ashes from the bush fires have polluted the water, and hardly a living fisii remains., ■ From the road can be seen hundreds of trout Iving dead in the deep holes, whence they had gone in search of purer water. It is an ill wind that blows no good 1 , and the settlers in the vicinity have been almost living on trout for the nast day or two. '