ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2915, 26 January 1910, Page 64

ANGLING.

By Jock Scott.

To -be a perfect-fisherman you require more froellencies than ace usually to _he found in such |t email space ss is allotted to a roan’s carcase.— BARKER GILMOUE. Headers ore invited to contribute items of local fchlng «isws for insertion in this column. For iMerMon in the ensuing issue they should reach pnaediu by Monday night’s mail.

KIMi TiOTE’i. The Molyreux.—The Free Press says Mr J. S. Algie, fishing in the Molyneax at the Balclulha reserve one morning- recentlylanded a big trout, which tipped the beam •t 161 b. It was in excellent condition, and a well-formed fell, with comparatively .fcnaall head. Its length was sft and girth ;‘sßin. Quite a number of local anglers inepee ted the leviathan, and Mr Hall took ' eeveral photographs of it. Tins is the .biggest fish caught in. the Molyneux so >far this season, and, curiously enough, last •season Mr Algie achieved a similar silences, landing a 14-pounder at the Earnego Flat. < The Wiiitaki.—The North Otago Times fef Saturday publishes the following: —Under yesterday’s date our correspondent at . fhe Waitaki mouth states that very few ifiah have been caught there . recently. The river is dirty and slightly in flood. . Op Tuesday a nice 14-pounder was caught by ;.§VIr Sutherland. Two parties went to the ■'cjouth side and remained there all night, •Joiit were unsuccessful. Although the wbiteIbait are running, yet very few trout have ssen seen. When the river clears no doubt ,'the fishermen will be more successful. ' The Oreti.—The Southland Times says Sshing in the Oreti at Oporo Messrs G. giee, J. Friend, and J. MtNamara landed ‘ eight beautiful trout, running in weight I f rom Sib to 101 b, and av-cna-ging n-early ' 7.01 b. All the fish were taken from one pool. The anglers were within speaking ■ distance all the time, and scarcely moved | from their stands. Within a stone’s throw of their position two other rods took six fish of similar size. The trout are m prime order, and the anglers report the | tiver “full of them.” | The Waipahi and the Pomahaka.—An ' fcichange savs the condition of the PornaKaka during the recent dry weather has • been most unfavourable for trout fishing. JThe river is probably at the lowest level In the history of the settlement, and in addition' to that is full of ft green slune, as well as a growth of rank weed, this Jafcter weed has rendered a great nortion of the Waipahi stream—hitherto so freely patronised by fishermen —almost useless as a trout stream. In the upper Pomahaka mod the Spylaw it is feared that the hot ‘.weather and the scarcity of water will almost clean the streams out, as dead fish in great quantities have been seen. In the face of these conditions', anglers are having a poor time iiriaig the best part ‘pf the season, and it will require some heavy floods to again clean the Pomahaka of foul matter. i The Pareora and the Opihi.—An exchange writes!:—Anglers state that the Pareora River is exceptionally low, and sport is consequently very poor. The Opihi is now little more than, a narrow stream, and the trout therein are said to be gathered together in the deep holes. A number of them are daily found lying on fche banks, whilst manv more are said to be taken by the “tickling’ 'process. This practice has become common in both the Opihi and Pareora Rivers. The Baneitafca.—One of the largest fi«h caught at the mouth of the Rangitata this season was secured a dav or two ago by Mr B. As’vrall, of Temuka. It turned the gpplr? .at* A ° f° r the Oreti. —The canlure of V Vfe of heavy trout in the Oreti Rive" of late has caused, inquiry sr- t<3 the lure most- successful in tempting members of this particular finny- tribe to them fate. T’-n bier fish. P is sa.id., are taken at night by means, in nearly every instance, of an artificial minnow pf ■local manulaetmc. the invention pf an enthusiastic angler in Mr. MJenzie, . well Iknown a few years hack m athletic circles .as a crack .cyclist. The minnow has special spinning Qualities which enab.e fishermen to use it in dead or sluggish

I water, and this fact probably accounts for its deadly killing nature where big trout, are .concerned, as they invariably haunt deep and sluggish ipools. W.hen used during the hours of darkness the bait is drawn slowly and carefully through the water, which enables (the big, lazy fish to get on to its track and close their jaws on the deceptive object at their leisure. Experienced anglers are smiling at a correspondent who has been writing to the papers in defence of the heavy-weight fish as opposed to night-fishing. These trout will seldom take a lure in daylight, and, at the same time, they will never be missed from our streams, as they are possessed of cannibalistic tendencies, and thus levy heavy toll on their smaller and more numerous brethren. —Southland Times. Canterbury Items. —Anglers report that fishing at the Sclwyn is rather quiet just now and that there are mot many big catches being made. One fisherman on Sunday secured four fish averaging 41b, but good baskets are not common. The fish are probably feeding well. The returns of the half-season licenses issued by the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society are not yet available, but it is understood that large numbers of people have availed themselves of the chance to obtain fishing for the rest of the season. Piscatorial Matters at Nelson.—Nelson angling enthusiasts, following the custom of former periods of dry weather, have been rescuing trout from shallow waters in which they were in danger of extinction. What is known as the Brook is dry over considerable stretches. The trout in hundreds, seek refuge in such small holes and runlets as they can find. Recently about 200 fish were rescued, and the total for the fortnight is about 1000. Willing "sports" have given their services gratuitously for the work, and the expense of rescue is small. '"The fish are placed in the Maitai River, of which the Brook is a tributary. Rotorua.—Mr T. M. Wilford, M.P., who has returned to Wellington from a fortnight's visit to Rotorua, believes that the trout in the lake there require a regular thinning out. The fish, though healthy and very plentiful, attain no..great size, and what with the prolific nature .of the female trout and the labsence of such natural enemies as eels,' the waters bave become overstocked, with the result that there is a diminution of the food supply. To .counteract the evil, Mr Wilford suggests an. amendment of the Fisheries Conservation Act. by which the Governor may by Order-in-Council authorise a committee locally appointed to net in certain parts of the lake at different periods of the year. This amendment Mr Wilford suggests should fee made general, for tlie same state of things is sure to occur in' _ Taupo and elsewhere. Unless something is done soon it is said that in five years* time the fishing at Rotorua will become , a thing of the past.—Exchange. ''■,■'' Angling After Dark.—W. B. writes to the Southland News: "Reports are current tba.t large trout have bean caught in the rivers lately after dark. I think this is a matter that should be looked into. Th; the Old Country night fishing is put doSvn very firmly—it seems a very unfair way of obtaining a bag, for in the dark the fish have no chance, and catching them thus will scon deplete the waters."—-fW. Hamilton, replying to the foregoing-; writes as follows to the News: —"I noticed"a note in Tuesday evening's paper from W. B. a-boufc anglers taking trout after'dark. I think he must be one of the anjrl'ers who cannot get any good trout in the rivers just now, day or night. Any angler' who catches his fish with rod and line deserves to get all the fish he can, day or night: ' I have been one of the lucky anglers to get a few good fish now and then, and I do not see any harm in catching them at night. I think anyone who goes out all night deserves to get a lew good Lzh, cad I hope to get some more before the season closes." Acclimatisation in Western Australia. — The work of the West Australian Acclimatisation Society in stocking the southern rivers and locks of that State with fish has been attended with gratifying results. English perch, tench, and crucial" carp have been found to thrive in these waters, and the first-named have grown to a weight of 51b in the Collie River. Angling About Benmcr;?.—The Benmore correspondent of the Southland Times writes on the 19th inst.: "The anglers are apparently having a spell after' the holidays, as few of them are on tiie river lately. Two causes are responsible—the low state of the river and absence of the favourite nor'wester, and the busy time engendered by the grass seed operations. During the holidays several gentlemen visited the river in the vicinity of the Benmore Bridge. The first—a party of two. —who only stayed a couple of days, had fair sport, and returned to town well satisfied with their outing. The second parts- —which included Messrs A. Tapper, E. Russell, and Broad—struck a continuous run of south-east wind, and although they had intended to_ stay for a week's angling, packed up their traps and motored to fresh ground after a two days' stay. The river was low and the wind against successful angling. Still, several good bngs are to be recorded now and again —one, bv Mr W. Anderson, of 28 very nice fi*h in the short time of an hour and 20 minutes. Mr R. Sinclair landed a fine six-noun der last week near the Dipfon Bridge, and included in his bag were also a oounle of 21b each. Another local angler also landed a fine fish, which tipped the beam nt silb. Lower down the river, towards Kauana. the anglers in that Quarter are getting betimes good snort, and Messrs W. Milne and N. R. Mac Kay have placed to their credit one or two excellent bags lately. Evening fishing is much resorted to here when the river is low. and between sunset and darkness, and after dark, in fact, the fish rise readily to th? P.v. A coupl" of 'ocal anglers vi.s'ted the Otaniri the other day, and report the river as very low pnd full of green weed —in fact, unfishable. Still, plenty of fish were to be seen in the pools, and in the evening a fair sample of speckled beauties was obtained. The fish wAre in excellent condition, and in colour if tho true salmon tint. "Tri-re that "record" of fish taken in the '"Upper" and Lower Oreti, published in vour evenin"- contemporary, and noticed by "Your Own" in the angling column of the Otapo Witness, and unon which I commented, the writer ("Jock Scott.") in the Witness column of the following week says: "The statement . . . k an exact reproduction of what appeared in the Southland "aper in question, but what paper it was I cannot recall." Now, ''that » rmeu'iar, seeing that in the same issue and in the same ?~r K "~ the following

appears: —-"The Southland News of a recent date says, etc." Now., if "Jock Scott" got his first .contribution from the News and the second, and also subsequently a third, which I have seen, it is strange, to say the least, that such a lapse of memory on his part should occur. —[From which I infer that the gentleman doubts my truthfulness. It is scarcely worth bothering about the matter, but the explanation is very simple. The extracting of these paragraphs is done by someone else, and in some instances »th-3 cource whence they are taken is not merited on them, consequently I am unable to credit any particular paper with being the author. That was probably the case in the present instance. My regret is quite profound at not being able to set the Benmore correspondent's mind at rest on the subject.— "Jock Scott."] —Continuing, the Benmore correspondent says: But this is merely by the way. I wish to again point out to your readers that what your contemporary publishes as a "record" for the "Upper" Oreti is incorrect, seeing that there are so many anglers in this district who never publish their takes of trout. Take, for instance, Dipton, Benmore. and Centre Bush districts. It can safely be assumed that there are at the smallest computation 40 anglers resident in these localities. Give them each half the limit catch for, say, once a week, and we reach a total of 600 fish weekly—and that.is putting it down at a low estimate. Then how comes it about that we read of "Upper" Oreti one week of 213, Lower 91. For the sake of argument we will take Winton as the dividing line for Upper and Lower Oreti. Surely there are fore than 50 fishermen on the Oreti between- Winton and the mouth of the river; and are we to assume from the "record" published by your contemporary that these only average a couple of fish a week each? What great fun they must have? And yet I hear of the line bags caught down the river by Loohiel way!; Truly, it is smozinc. %re we to believe? The "record" as published or ihe anglers? We know that anglers are prone to exaggerate, but. when I have spoken to many anglers of the "Upper" Oreti on the.,'.''record" «.s published I find out that although these fishermen's takes are veil known locally (and would, if published in the weekly number given, cause some surprise as to the number taken out of the Upper Oreti,proper weekly), they are not included in the register given by your contemporary. Therefore I maintain that although if, is a hard thing to get a proper estimate of fish taken in one river without thorough and systematic arrangements, the "record" given by the News for "Upper" Oreti fafls short ol the actual take of fifh by hundreds weekly. If my remarks are doubted I am nrenared to. supoly data and names in proof of my contention. -