BANK NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 64

BANK NOTES.

The Waitaki.—"Blue Dun," whom I m<?r tiown a-, the Waiau mouth about a monta . ago. sends me a note from the Waitaki, ' •where .he has been fishing. The note reached me just too late for inclusion in last week's ' issue.. He says the fishing was not good at' the time of writing. The river was in good t order and the fish in excellent condition, fcut very shy. Mr Lasoore for a week's fishing- secured four trout. One day Mr A■Butt, a gentleman from Manchester, basketed two fish, and Mr Lambert, of Pleasant Point, got two. The writer grassed j j six on the Friday, two on Saturday, three, Jpn Thursday, and one on Wednesday. Ai :Mr Gordon secured two fish, and the best ' one caught' weighed 101b, " Blue Dun," j i from his note, is now probably at the Ran-! imitate, as he intended going there. I shall 4»e glad to hear from him again when convenient. I m Competition at Tapanui.—Ten competitors ,went out for the Tapanui anglers and V!*ter-Ptalkers'. speoiai competition on Wedimesday last. ' The river was in splendid [order, but it was an off day with the fish, •rod thj fly fishermen especially had 1 a poor )tims, the minnow accounting for most of the ■kills. The winner turned up in Mr S. ] Poynter with a net weight of 111b loz, with •Mr P. Hay (91b 8oz) second. Eight out of the ten competitors weighed in, with the following result*:—S. Poynter (15 per cent, handicap), 15 fish weighing 131b, net weight 111b loe ; P. Hay (5 per cent, handicap), 12 fish weighing 101b, net weight 91b 8oz; G. Drummond (15 per cent, handicap), 91b, net weight 71b lOoz; R. A. Rodger (25 per cent, handicap), 8 fish weighing 9£lb, net weight 71b 2oz; J. J. Perry, 8 fish weighing 51b lloz, ne: weight 51b lloz; A. Stiven (5 per cect. handicap), 1 fish weighing 31b, net weight 2lb 14oz; D. Poynter (10 per cent, liandicapjf, 3 fish/ weighing 31b,-net weight 21b lloz: R. Drummond (25 per cent, handicap), 4- fish weighing 21b 14oz, net weight 21b 4oz The best fish caught was weighed in by Mr R. A. Rodger—a, five and a-ha'f pounder in splendid order. — Tapanui Courier. Some Canterbury Streams.—The Timaru Herald of the sth inst contains the followSng:—J'As anticipated, the continued rainfall has had an effect on the rivers. The Fareora is high, and the Opihi and Temuka ,"were rising yesterday. The Opihi had this summer been lower than ever before, tcad on Sunday last had ceased to run at the, "/traffic railway,bridges,'a thing'which one; of the oldest settlers of the district said had nev«!- occurred before. There was a good 'body of water going along yesterday, and 1 the water was very much discoloured." — j Anothei exchange says:—"The rain of the: past few days will do an immense amount of good to the fishing in the local rivers. For some time past it has been almost impossible to do any fishing .without going down to the junction. The Temuka has risen considerably and is slightly discoloured, while the Ooihi is rising slowly." •The Mimihau.—The Wyndham Herald ipf the 6th inst. says: — Notwithstanding the dry season, some of our local anglers are •meeting with fair success. On Monday ttfternoon the veteran angler Mr M. Lawrie Succeeded' in landing an B£lb trout at the mouth of the Mimihau, a spot that has in $he past yielded a number of large fish. r At present Mr G. M. Marshall, of Dunedin (whose name ie well known in angling and acclimatisation matters), is whipping the local streams. Angling in the North Island.—The DoIninion contains the following information: — ;Ou» Tokaanu correspondent writes as ffojiows:—''Fishing here 1 is still in full fwjng, and good catches of rainbow and JrtWn trout are landed daily. .One bag lit 20 brown £rout was taken recently on By And minnow by Judge Palmer and Messrs &4st and Jones. The average weight of ihi troiri was 9Alb each. The catch included; iwo of 141b, one each 131b, 12ilb*, and lOUb, j «ght were 101b «acn, five were 81b each, I itjd the. smallest ones taken were, 61b end j fib «ach."«-sli« ang"ljng fraternity, as a body, ire | truthful lot, although the poor unfor"iutiAve* who do not indulge in the faeoinatinf&nd skilful pastim* often think otherijßse., Th* Rotofua Chronicle' says:— "\ (gather (rood storjfe-a. £ah *tory, but not Bycet6*iily «, fishy one —comes to ys which M worth redotdipff. About a. wane ago an •Shitnislastio angler w&e tempting the trou> %A eb« l«ke near the Fairy Spring Streafo, UkfEet a while he hooked a fish, played it jfot fOmo time, as anglers are wont to, $nd «u«ceeded^ In getting it within

gaffing distance from him. To his surpriso j he noticed something of an lyiusual charac- ' ter attached to the trout, in the shape of a long black streak. His first idea was that it was a snag the fish had run against, but on landing the fish, to his surprise ho found a strap about 6ft long attached to it. The strap had been passed through tho mouth of the fish, and then through the buckle, therefore making the fish secure. It appear* that this is the praotioe among gome anglers, and that the strap is then attached to the body of the angler, or a button on a belt worn by him. Evidently, befoie the first angler succeeded in making the strap fast the fish got away from him, strap and all, but how long the trout had been at liberty with the strap through its mout> angler number two is unable to say. We have been asked to say that the angler who lost the strap may obtain same on application at this office on giving a description of it." According to the Chronicle, the weather recently has not been such as to induce anglers to go out on the lake, the dense smoke making navigation difficult. Among those who have been brave enough to venture out was Mr Fitson, who in three days scoured 24- fish, the heaviest of which weighed 7±lb. All these fish were, caught on the fly. On Saturday Colonel Ward and Captain Rnodes were rewarded with 12 fine trout, the average weight of -which was 3lb. These also were caught on the fly.— An exchange cays : —-"About three years ago some rainbow trout fry were placed in one of the lakes known to the Maoris as Parawanui, situated about one mile from the West Coast and about five miles from Aratapu. It has been a matter of conjecture whether these fish could be acclimatised in these northern waters, but there is now no doubt on the matter, as Mr J. W. Williams, of Aratapu, a few days ago landed three beautiful specimens weighing between Wb and 51b each. These were all caught on the fly, and were in the pink of condition — in fact, equal in qualHy to those of the Rotorua distriot."— A well-known sportsman of Wainui-o-mata, Mr Burrows, succeeded the other day in landing a *ilb trout in that looality. This is said to be the record for that district for several years. Since the rain commenced a well-conditioned 311b trout was caught just underneath the Hutt bridge. Some very good sport has been obtained at Taupo lately. A party of local enthusiasts some little time ago caught 2cwt of fish, but had the misfortune to have the catch stolen soon after. Messrs G. Burget and R. Hoare, who have located themselves at Rotoehu for the remainder of the fishing season, caught 307 trout, averaging 51b each, during the past five weeks, the largest weifihing ll£lb. All were caught with the fly and light tackle. Both the gentlemen named recently arrived from England, and they are quite enamoured with the local angling. Although of course the dry weather has done harm it had the effect of killing off many eels. Unfortunately, however, several streams in the Wairarapa district have lost all their fish.— Exchange. * South Canterbury Acclimatisation Spciety. — At a reoent meeting of the council of the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society lengthy correspondence was read from the Tourist Department re return of trout sent to the Christohuroh Exhibition ; drawing attention, to poaching in the Opihi at Fairlie by day and night, and the need for additional, rangers ; and from the Otago Sooiety recommending removal of the protection on seagulls, notifying that the annual conference would be held in June, and asking that any business desired be forwarded. A quantity of correspondence and 1 explanations by the secretary were tabled relative to a case of * Pareora settler who had been fishing before he applied for a license, and only did so when his conduct was complained of to the society. The : question of prosecuting had been conI sidered, and no steps had yet been taken in that direction. The alleged offender had I claimed that he was fishing on his own ' land, and some members thought that, though that was not the case, it might have been * mistake. — In the meantime the matter was left in the hands of Mr Hassell. I A brief discussion took place on the recom- - xnendation of the Otago Society that the i protection on seagulls be removed, and for their destructiveness to both fish and newlydropped lambs the council unanimously endorsed the recommendation. The secretary stated that there was an undoubted run of i.quinnat salmon in the Rangitata. this seaI son. He had caught three, of 81b, 61b. and 41b, that gave splendid sport. He had heard of others, and of a grilse. These, of course, cam* from the Hakataramea down j the Waitaki. Mr F. A. Franks, chief > ranger, reported on his proceedings since la6t meeting. Referring to a visit to Fairlie, he stated that he saw few fteh there, and saw no poaching going on. He had tried to make inquiry into the alleged poaching, but he could not get the informant. A visit to Silverstream in search of poachers was also in vain. Mr Franks remarked: "There appears to be a lot of information of sorts about 'poaching,' but very little truth in the stories reported, and I have had to travel a lot for nothing." The report stated that the rivers generally were very low, nearly dry in fact, and any fish in pools which could be shifted without much expense he had had removed. As far as he knew there had been little poaching, but he had had occasion to warn a few boys. Some specimens of appliances for "foul-hooking" were exhibited, and Mr Aspinall suggested that the remedy would be to deolare the Opihi a '"fly" river, or to limit the fishing to certain hours of daylight. Members spoke with great indignation of the use of such appliances, and with discontent of the uncertainty of the law on the subject. One member talked of restricting ''lead," and another said it could not be done. The inclusion of an artificial minnow, it was feared, made the apparatus a. "bait," and the law allowed "bait" to be used. — The further consideration of the matter was deferred till the annual meeting. Liberation of Rainbow Trout — About 4000 young rainbow trout were liberated in the north branch of the Waimakariri on Wednesday last by Mr Douglas, the curator for the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. What Might Have Been: By Ivan Blue.— A retrospective glance recalls to memory the day when we went to try the hitherto unfiehed Kahautera River, near Kaikoura. That morning I had come across a deep-sea fisherman, who was brimming over with a tale., of how 1 "I and Bill came in from Olaverly this morning, and I see a salmon trout a-lying ifi the Kahautera ford thaj, Vafi go long," and he measured oft about 4ft gf ihe ro&dway- "8£ its approximate lengtQ. I xnlUffc say that I did not quite believe him, tut in the evening we rode over to see i& til ere was any truth in his words, and A journey of nine miles along I

a 6andy traok by the sea beach brought us to the Kahautera ford. It was not a very likely-looking place: a waste of shingle between tussocky hills, with an open shallow river, perhaps 15 yards in width, foaming seawards among the rocks and stones. Many small ripples and occasional smooth reaches were tried in vain, and then —as being more likely to make the fish show themselves if they were there —a minnow was rigged up and cast into a deeper pool under a bluff. Instantly three great trout rushed at it at once, and, almost startled out of my life, I dragged the lure away too quickly. There are few things more gladdening to a keen fisherman than a find) of big sea-run trout where nothing was expected. I confess that I fell a prey to over-excitement, end fished wildly. By the time I had covered the two miles of river nearest the sea more than a dozen fish had been run, and missed, or lost. Then as dusk came on I turned to fish back to the plac§ where we had tethered the horses. Either the trout were "gripping" better, or my companion's reproaches had cooled my excitement, and when we finished for that day I had. five weighing between 61b and 91b each. Enough certainly, but there were plenty there, and if only I had not given way to my feelings we might have had a record bag to carry home.