BANK NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 64

BANK NOTES.

OTAGO ANGLERS' ASSOCIATION'S COMPETITIONS. Competition in Otago Harbour.— Date to be fixed. ; A *ew fish" are still, being taken from the waters of Lake Logan, and when there is a fresh in the Leith trout are to be caught; but the cream of the fishing for our small 'ocal stream is over for the eeaeon. The Waitaki.— Since Thursday the Wai>taki River ha 3 bean in excellent condition for fishing", and there have been some fine catches, including 2 18-pounderti and 3 14pounders. One of the latter, with five other good fieh, wore caught at the river mouth by Mr H. M'lntyre, of Glenavy. ' Angling About Balclutha. — "Entre Nous" . writes from Balclutha t-n the 7th inst: — "The streams are much too low for troutfishing round here, co anglers are devoting their attention to perch-fishing. Shaw's dagoon and canal provide fishing for about 20 anglers some afternoons, and 40 perch up to 2^lb or 31b are not uncommon. Boys oatch a dozen or two in a few hours some evening*. Mr P. Renton took 6 good .•trout on Friday evening around Steel's Island, aggregating 431b. A Kaitangata angler aLro got 6 on Saturday up to 4ilb, and. Mr J. Lamond caught 8 during the week, the largest being 51b. A Balclutha, angler secured 2 j-esterday weighing 41b and s£lb, while several other fiaheainen were also successful in getting one or two/ , The Waiau.— The trout-fishing at Waiau Mouth is attracting knights of the rod. i Glorious weather makes life at the camps «ke most ideal lif« conceivable. Someheavy creels are coming in accompanied Jhy smiling and satisfied- fishermen. The fish are taking well, and are plentiful. — Orepuki Advocate. — At the meeting of the liand Board on Thursday last the Southland Acclimatisation Society suggested that i the angler^' camping reserve at the mouth of the Waiau be fenced by the Government ! *nd the land vested in the society, with J power to charge small rents for hute, > tents, etc., to be collected by the society ; and paid to public account to recoup cost j of fencing. — Held over for inspection by members of the board. " ' The Owaka. — Mr J. Mathewson and H party were down at the Owaka recently, and _ secured 300 fish during their etay, ■the duration of which Ido not know. Fi^h were exceedingly plentiful, but rather small. During the latter part of the season I have had a similar experience of late years, though I cannot say I lune found the fi3h too numerous. The Owaku is a river I have fished for manj year- — in fact, I believe I was the first to anjle in its waters, — and it was nothing uncommon 10 or 12 years ago to get fish up to 41b and 51b weight. Small fish -were then rarely met with, and I never got anj - thing under a pound. Nowadays it has become better known, is more accessible, and is heavily fished, and this, 1 assume, is the cause of the fish falling off in size. Tench at Kauangata. — Lately mention was made of tench having been caught m the canal at Kaitangata ' which empties into ,the Molyneux. Sir A. E. Farqahar, of Stirling, a well-known enthusiast in fic-h culture, liberated a number of yearling tench and fry in the Molyneux some years ago. This no doubt accounts for the presence of this English fresh-water fish at Kaitangata. Perch-fishing About Gore. — The Gore Standard says: — Large catches of perca were made in this neighbourhood 'a«t week. The fish are reported a-> being in {rood condition, and some of the indhidual "bag-/' were phenomenally heavy. It i« expected that the funds of the' Acclimatisation Society will have benefited l.ivgcly fiom the rush io obtam pcith licences. This daring fi-h, whe-e fle^h i* m England considered a great delicacy. abo-vwU in .ill the creeks and back waters aVutting on the Molyneux, and of lato i\ou!d peeni to 'be invading the river itself. At .-ill events, on Saturday a local angler caught four while spinning the artificial minnow for trout on the portion cf liver nurround ing the lower reserve. The same fi^li iftko reported as very plentiful at Kaitangata, its favourite haunts being the mui»l and Morrison's Creek. Ibere some

] have been caught weighing as much as 41b. In ,the canal, we are credibly informed, a _number of tench, have also been caught, i It will be news to many piscatorial devotees j to learn that this English fresh-water fish ! had been acclimatised -in Otago. A word of description, therefore, may not be out of place. It belongs to the carp family; the head, sides, and belly are of yellowish green; the fins large, and of a reddish brown colour; the tail is not forked; its bedy is thicker and deeper than other fish in proportion to its length ; the scales are smooth and small, and the eyes are of a golden tint, encircled by a band o/ crimson. The length is generally less than a foot, but at Home individuals are sometimes taken weighing 51b to 61b. Like the perch, it prefers still and muddy waters and the sluggish parts of rivers. The Ashburton and Eakaia. — Dr Trevor, fishing at the mouth of the Ashburton River, grassed a trout whicb easily turned the scale at B}b, and the fish was in the pink of condition. A correspondent writes as follows: — "So far this season angleis have not had such good sport at Rakaia as in former yeare, a-nd many fishermen have returned with practically empty creek. Amongst the most successful have been Messrs Palairet, Scott, Townend, Marf, and Houston." — Exchange. Flounder-spearing.— Floundering is the general sport at tne mouth of the Tokomairiro River at present, and on Saturday, night a stream of lights was to be seen all akrag the mouth of the river. The J fish were very plentiful, and a party of three speared 170, while the rest, who wei-e out fo* the night, went home with bags fairly well filled. Holiday-makers at Crystal's Beach ami Bull Creek had a gay time with the crayfish. " -, A Fishing Story.— Another fish story has come along. The only difference »s, we know this one to be true. A Wocdville fisherman (says the Examiner) was busy thrashing the Manawatu at Mathieson's bridge when he hooked a gocd-sized tiout. Aftei "playing"' the 'fish for some timo he proceeded to land it. Just as it was being pulled out of the watei a large eel made 'a, grab and got the trout into his mouth. riie fisherman immediately gaffed the eel, and got it and the trout on the bank. Although the fisherman tried his hardest to keep possession of the eel it managed to wriggle back ; nto the water, but the trout remained. The eel was 3ft or 4ft in length, and estimated to weigh about 161b— and this is the only portion of the yarn that is open to question. Twice Hooked Trout.— "Detached Badger," writing under this heading in the Field,/ saye:— In an angler's autobiography, pages 101 and 102, there is a quotation from a Field aiticle by the late Francis Francis, in which ho described how Marryat left a fly in a trout which went on rising, and then both Francis and he in succession rose the same fish. Fishing with me one day at Houghton, Francis left a fly (an olive dun) aud a yard of the cast in a fish, and immediately knotted on some strands of fine gut and another fly of the same pattern ; at the very next, ca^t he hooked and killed tin trout, ajul both flies were taken out of its nioutl 1 . Probably many rea<U?rs of the Field have had similar experience, and will confirm, the statement that it is in no way curprising for a- fish to go on rising with an artificial fly in its mouth. The lato Mr Marryat used to say that it did not seem to scare a trout very much if it was pricked or hooked and got away) so long as it was not rolled ovsr in ths wator and did not give anything like a run before it got away. The following episode is, to my mind, somewhat curious, the more M as it occurred twice within a few minutes. On May 18 I had wasted all tho morning on a. part of the main Te^t, where the weeds wore coming tlown thickly, as, notwithstanding the very sensible circular recently issued by the Te=t and Itchen Trout-fishing Association, weed-euttinpr was in full swing. Aftor lunch I walked over to a smaller tributary stream, and after wandering about for nearly an hour had not seen a sizable fish rising, although occasional olive and ironblue duns came '•ailing down. At lengrfi on a very rapid run a fi e h canve to the surface, and took some floating insect. After a few very careful ca«ts with a male iron blue it rose fairly at tha fly, was hooked, ran across the water, and the hook came away. E\ery movement of the trout could be followed", and it at oiife returned to its original position, and after a brief inter.val rose again. A change was made to a male olive dun. and again the fish rose, fastened, and, according to my usual custom with a large trout, I at once turned its head down stream 2nd towed it down for about 60 yards. It c eemed quite bewildered, came down quietly into the net. was lando<l, duly a'lmiiod. and weighed 21b 120z — a. wo'l-rondltioned and well-marked c peci:no:i of Saimo far:o. Proreeding some dist.i'ic" an Mream to a broad -shallow, another n-.ng trout wa-, espied; the maY olnp w<>^ put over it. and it came «lua-r. Something nromnroc! mo to chancre ha k to the irale irrn b'up, but it would not ii-"- aua'i' A! out four or five yards fairliw out in tin 1 sticam another, and apparently "onuwhat lar<r<>:\ fish was seen to ii>-«. At the lir-t c.i-t-it took the iron ljlue. tore aoo«s-ihe wat"r, forped up stream, turned down Mroam again, and just as it readied tho spot where it had risen the hook cnr>ie aw-r” Aftor a few minutes the Trout spttiod down to rise in its old position. i>n<l tli^n. hif.tli ing off tho iron blue. I knotted on th° fame male olive, put v o\Pr tho fi'h. and killed it— a female exactly 21b. Tbu<- <ivn* after the other both thess flnh were hooked on the iron blue, pa-^e a good run. got away, returned to their re»ppeti\r> station';. and fell victims to the male o!h<2 Cum. Francis Francis's wor<ls in the Fiold arne'e alluded to in an *>arl<er part of this are c o appropiiatc that I feel I cannot iinpro\ c on them: Th' 1 frightful tortures inflicted by the cruel hook drivm into that most sensitive parr of h - anatomy — the mouth — which scnMmc'ntaH'is <uv nn n \nTncd of holding forth on. <lirl not o- ~n interfere with his p.np^iiro. for fivi mmr.t-s nftpr' h*> was rUmp a? haid aXa X cvP I . ' — I do not i'now that twic« hoiked rr-out a'v much of a rarity, -o lonjr a~ tho triut »nd thr> nnpl*>r are par'M pirttv epofdily alienthe fir-r h^okinjr I luu o f.iirN fr-quwiily hooked a fi-h :i>vl lia\<\ ■* \<»rv ffw liiiimto.-. ajram \vr<\ £a-i in what I had *»\oi> rpa-o»i to l^'inc ".?^ «h« 'i"ic fiah But if rhprr* ha" lif'ii ,in> tinn,; 'ike play in \\\f hr-i in^iiiKO I lia-. c i« jii«l it r-< - Ir-s t<i make any fijrt'if-, ancinj t to hir<> th« fi-h. Tl<» -to,.- li-.iiL. pii'l nothincr mor. is seen of hin«. 1 haM 'in\r\p;-. niP'.V-' the «pot, and i -tuin-d an hciir 1: to •. found a fhh rising in the -I'ne • iJ^|P> *^ t«uM« it OUt.