ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2913, 12 January 1910, Page 68

ANGLING.

By Jock Scott.

To be a perfect fisherman you require more exG«Hencic.i than are usually to be found in such ,-> small space as is allotted to a man's carcase.— PXRKVTI GILMOtTR. Boilers are invited to contribute items of local .fishing ccw; for insertion in this cplumn. For iW»*tion in the ensuing issue they should reach f>tmedin .by Monday night's mail. X ; : —————— B4NK NOTISW.

Angling at Otautau.--A large : ptumber of anglers have visited the' ' rivers near Otautau during the holidays, says an exchange, and met with a fa.irr-am.pnnt of success. ',.- _ ;: „■.'-.•'. The Opihi. —Amongst the vfeito-rs to Temuka during the holidays were three young men from Makikihi, i*ybo were tamped with some friends at 'the lower Opi'h'i. They found the fisbiihg very .good, landing a total of 58 fisip ' -including 16 from two to three pounds/ weight, the latter being, 'caught on the. whitebait minnow.—Exchange. Tokaanu Catches.—The following are a few of the Tokaanu trout catches jpjily fly) foi the week ended. December 31:— Mr B. Jones, 19 fish, weighing 148ill>; Messrs Prowse, Borlase, and M'Be-rh, of Wanganui, 18 fish, weighing 1591 b, largest 13£lb: Mr, A. D. Shilson, 15 fish, weighing 132A1b; Messrs Stubbing and Chase, 29 fish, weighing 2201 b. largest Mb: Mn' Logan, of Napier, nine fish, weight 901 b (two hours); Major Blewitt and the Hon. W. 11. Wigram. M.L.C., 22 fish, weight 200ilb; Messrs Montgomery and Grace. 17 fish. w-ig'Ving His Excellency Lord Plunket and a party ' five arrived at Tokaanu on January 2. and are at present camping in one of •Mr Jones's fishing camps on the Tongariro R.iver.

Latest Reports from Canterbury.—Tho majority of the South Canterbury rivers wore in excellent. order durintr the holidays, (Aid good baskets, ranoing (mm o dozen to 30, were secured in the Opihi and Rangitate.. The fish caught were all in ,firsfc-clas» condition, and authorities state that so far as Canterbury is concerned the season is the best experienced for; a unm;ber of years. The Selwyn has yielded fairly well, both at the mouth (where th» fly h&s been used with moderately good xesulfe), and at the heed waters. In the upper reaches some capital baskets have i>een oompiled. The Rakaia has been no good for some days, and the Little River, e*t fcAe mouth, has given un an abundance pf perch, but no trout. The Waimakariri p»5 been in and out. Now and then good takes have been secured, and now a.nd then uncompromising blanks have been drawn. "Fishing below White's bridge a few days ago Mr W. Main (who believes in getting up to his neck in his work) secured a (basket containintr a 15-pounder, an 11--oounder, and other nice ones. Some decent takes with the fly have also been made in the north branch. Several English tourists, who visited our fishing streams last vear. are among us again, apd are lookino- forward to an enjoyable stay of a month or so.

Fishing for Kawhia.—There is an art in fishing for trout that only experience teaches, and there is also an art in fishing for kawhia that can only be learned •in the same school. A number of fishermen were at the Waitaki last week. several hailing from Ohristchurch and several from Oamaru. An Oamaru man hooked a. kawhia, which are plentiful at the river just now, and immediately dropped the point of his rod, to better deal with the tactics of the fish. A Christchurcb fisherman, thinking he _ was an amateur with a trout on, admonished him to "ke*p his rod up." that he was doing a wrong thing, and generally laid down the principles ot the art of fishing. Jus* afterwards, the Christchurch man; hooked a kawhia, and his red also was flattened out. He was seriously advised by the Oamaru man to "keep his rod up." that he was doing a wrong thing, and he also laid down the general principles of skilful fishing. But the. Christjhurch man could not keep his rod up, and had to admit the other man's superior knowledge The kawhia is one of the hardest fighting fish on the New Zealand coast, aSd will nearly always get away from the fisherman if he uses the same tactics as (•OX tike trout. Th* tiwhia is—for what

reason we do not know—termed the New Zealand salmon. In shape it is, but in flavour it is one of the poorest fish on the coast, and is no more like a salmon, than a honse mackerel is.—N.O. rimes.

A Forgetful Sport.—The Temuka Leader contains the iollowing rather good, story:—"One of the 'absent-minded beggar' kinjd was, with some chums, camped on the Temuka Riverbed during the holidays to enjoy the fishing and enjoy that freedom from restraint which as a city dweller he has during the greater pairt of the year to put up with. Tiring of a fish diet, he determined to vary it with a rabbit, and to secure the delicacy for which he longed he rose early—at daylight in fact, and taking rod and gun, set oil* - to secure some furry and finny game. He decided to get his rabbit first, and the task took longer than he expected; rabbits seemed to be scarce, and at last tiring of carrying his fishing outfit he laid it down while he got his bunny. He then, again set out, and after an hour or more got what he wanted, and proceeded to pick up his rod, etc. To his surprise he could not find it—the more he searched the more he was puzzled, and at last he got anxious and put down his gun and rabbit that he might the move easily ■ hunt for his misplaced property. Feverishly and long he hunted, and at last he was rewarded by finding his fishing goods intact. Thanking his stars or something else he went to pick up his gun and rabbit, but, to his amazement, not a trace of them could he fifcd. He hunted about until he tired and made his way to camp—which he was almost, surprised to find where he had left itroused his mates, and told his story. It was still morning, so a combined search was organised, and it ultimately proved successful, and all returned triumphantly to camp. It would hardly be safe to mention rabbits to some people just now."

Breeding Trout in Melbourne.— The firiit experiment in breeding trout in Melbourne for the restocking of streams is now fairly under way, and the first brood of about 34,000 young fry has been obtained. The hatchery at the- Zoo has finished its work for the season, and the young trout are in> the ponds, where they will be kept until they are yearlings, and then used to restock streams in the vicinity of the city (says the Argus). About 90 per ccn>t. of the ova placed in the boxes .at the Zoo were hatched this year, a. very satisfactory result for a first effort. The eggs batched at the Zoo come from Now. Zealand. They are brought here in perforated trays, each of which contains about 20,000 eggs, and packed one above another in boxes. The. eggs in each tray are covered with moss, the top tray is filled; with broken ice, and this, melting slowly, percolates through the lower ones, and keeps the eggs cold and damp. It is the custom in America to maintain a stock of breeding fish. Only the largest avid most shapely trout are retained. A certain proportion o*f malformed fry which have appeared in the hatcheries at the Zoo indicate that in some instances the ova has been str'ipued from young or weak fish, but the loss in this way is so slight as to be hardly worth cons.kle.ring. Angling in Canterbury.—An exchange says there must have been 50 rods at the Raka.ia mouth one day last week—so rods and five fish. The river was not in good order, however, but since then it has improved. Three rods on the Upper Sehvyn. accounted for 256 little ones for three or four days' fishing. Not all of these were legal captives, however, and a. goodly number had to' be dismissed with a caution. The Anglers' Club boronetition took p'a-ce on Boxing Day. and lasted the full 24 hours. There. were a large numb? l- of onirics, but owing to the unsuitable conditions nobody contested the Minnow Cup, and that is held over • for subsenuent argument. The S packman (anv bait) Cup was the only trophy fished for. the winner (for the 'third trine at intervals (and .second in suefwsion) being Mr L. Biggins, who on.ucht 16ylii weight, at Motukarara, all with the bullv. his b»st fish weighing 4lb. Mr S. Knight with lH'b (causr.ht in the Upper Sehvyn with the fly) was second, and taken the £2 2s rod presented by Mr Biggins. Mr W Bowen, with 9-Alb. caught in the Lower S«lwyn, was third. The result of the fly-fishing competition had not been decided at the time of -writing, while a promising youngster in the person of Master H _ .Ohristfe won tin iunior composition with 3+lb. caught in the Selwyn. The base? weiohed in sealed between ' 601 b and 701 b. which was a.n urw.-RUlalJv noor result. Mr Biggins secured 1401 b off his own rod last year. Liberation of Trout Fry.—Mr Steven, of the Clinton hatcheries, on Wednesday liberated 25.000 trout fry in the Catlin's River at Houipapa. The river is admirably adapted to provide snort for devotees of the angle, but unfortunatelv there is good reason to believe that the fish are not always given a sporting chance, being ofttimes cruelly slaughtered in large numbers by means of the explosion in the water of dynamite cartridges. The work of detecting the perpetrators of such devilish practices might well occupy a little of the attention of the Acclimatisation Society's rangers. —Free Press. "Iron Blue" on Holiday Camps.—

" Iron Blue " writes thus i.n a Christchuvch exchange on the vicissitudes of camp life: " On all ca.mr>ing •expeditions it is most convenient to have the dut-es of each man clearly defined: one will look after the horse, or horses, or horseless machine, meaning a motor; another will cook the catch, and perhaps a welcome change of eggs and baoon; a third may pitch the tent, also he may provide a stock of firewood, and possibly kick the cook for using it too quicklv. Thus work and pleasure can be shared, and the man who has made haste to do his 'chores' 'has a right to sit down and watch the ethers do their part. The y.-cat secret of successful camping lies in the exercise of a little selfrestraint. On no account interfere with any ordinary doings of the next man, especially after a hard day. Probably all are tired, and everyone is doing his best, and sarcastic comment is quite out of place. After a full meal a necessary hint will be 'assimilated in the process of digestion, but before such previous softening of human nature it is ' taboo'; unless trouble is saved on the instant, and sometimes oven that itf riot a satisfactory excuse. Ladies in camp are beyond question a great aid to civilisation, but occasionally their presence leads to unconsidered incidents. Picturfl to yourself a comfortable encampment of several tents in a willow grove, with a lawn-like bank sloping down

to a deepish ford across the river. Next please fancy a lady seized with a desire to inspect the other side, and a devoted man—who should have been fishing—waiting to carry out her wishes, not to say her weight. Then comes the mercifully indistinct corner of the sketch, roughed in at the moment when for reasons concerning the display of about half an inch of ankle the lady let go the collar of her carrier, and tried to cover up her shoe. All efforts to avoid a bath were in vain, for both went below the surface, and—well, luckily it was a drying day, and she had most beautiful and sensible hair, some of which could be dried separately. At another time—as lam telling of misadventures—a ' fisherman fouled his minnow in a snag; and being of a prudent mind he discarded hi; personal comfort, and also his nether garments, in an attempt to rescue the imitation fish. Warily and carefully he went, but the water was midway deep, and his tip-toed struggles in the rapid stream were full of interest, particularly when he sot foot on a sharp stone and was momentarily lost to sight. I am glad to say that, finally, he got his minnow back, and 'ith the same he caught a 91b fish. In the last line—or two—a word to tin, wise: Make fast the tent pegs, and take '.ilenty of food; hope for the best, defer consideration of the worst, and all wall go well." , On Cricket-fishing.—" Halcyon " has some amusing and, at the same time, useful remarks on the above subject in a recent issue of a Christchuich paper. He says: "To the uninitiated the task of getting crickets is girt about with more difficulties than 3'vcn the occupation of beguiling the wary trout. The atmosphere may be Hterallv "saturated with the gladsome shout of a' myriad crickets, yet there is no indication as to whore any individual shouter may be located. After a little practice it is simple enough to track them, provided one has a good ear. But the simplest way of all is to pay a boy 3d a dozen to catch them. If this means is not available bend a likely-looking tussock over firmly. If there is a cricket in it he will protest like a cheap match in a hurry. One's sense of hearing will assist in the subsequent search, and when found the blithesome little insect should be confined (with as many of his fellows as can conveniently be captured) in a small medicine phial with a ventilated cork. Having secured the bait, attach a double hook to a particularly fine cast. Hook your cricket underneath, but not too deeply, and then take up your rod and walk to the nearest stretch .of deep, slack water that has fairly good cover along the bank. A bright day, flooded with sunshine, is imperative. Your trout, like the enterprising burglar, loves to lie. a-basking in the sun, waiting for tit-bits to .come his way. Treat your cricket with infinite tenderness, for he flaps off very easily. , A slight puff of wind is a great assistance, as the cast may merely be hold up and allowed to float out with the breeze. Pop your red over, a flax bush, and let your cricket fall. softly, oil the water. A., little wrist play will./cause him to flutter on the surface and, atti-act the attention of the fish under the bank. A big fellow will often dash put, have a look and dash back. He doesn't altogether like the appearance of the thing. But try him again and yet again, and if he is hot disposed to do busineiss go upstream and throw in a loose cricket. When this floats past him he may take it. Give him another if you have plenty, and then, drop the one with ■the hook in it. well ahead of him. It is even money that he is yours."