ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2921, 9 March 1910, Page 64

ANGLING.

By Jock Scott.

X© be- a perfect fisherman you require more Mtollenoied than are usually to be found in such a email spaoe as is allotted to a. man's carcase.— -I&MCIft GILHOTJR. ~u . , , , Readers are inTited to contribute items of local fis&lag aew« for insertion in this column. For WpMUon in the ensuing issue they should reach bosadln by Monday night's mail. RAMU NOTES. The Waitaki.—According to the North Otagd Times correspondent at the Waitaki Mouth, the river hae beer -very high and dirty, and is scouring out fresh channels. •It has not been so high for months. There are no fishermen camped there at present, and the correspondent has not seen any fish about for weeks past. Trout Fishing About Timaru.—The poor results generally of the trout-fishing seaBon so far as if has gone are making the majority of anglers unanimously of opinion that it is high time the Acclimatisation Society established its own breeding ponds. ,The Opihi is the favourite river wj£h weekend anglers, and is so j)oorly stored' that the average baskets are lamentably small. In this connection it is interesting to state that M- P. Palliser, in a chat with one of our (Timaru Herald) stafft, agreed that the time has arrived when the society should Slave its own ponds for re-stocking purposes. Other well-known anglers go so far as. to state that there should be a ''close season," for the Pareroa and' Opihi, at any rate. The Temuka River is about the best stocked with fish, but their condition is nothing like so excellent as fish from the Opihi an<3 Pareora. The Rangitata.—Anglers nave been enjoying good sport at the Rangitata River lately, and some very fine fish, weighing 51b, 61b, 71b, and up to 131 b have been grassed. This change for the better jvill be welcome news.—Exchange. The Ashley River.'—On Tuesday (week) evening Mr A. Prestney landed an 111 b trout from the River Ashley opposite Fernside. During the past fortnight his catches in the same vicinity included a 7ilb fish, anothei weighing 71b, and one of 51b.— Lyttelton Times. A Salmon Leap.—The following extraordinary occurrence .nay be of interest to some of your (Field) readers: —Three ladies were rowing in the river at Bantham, S. Devon, on Monday last, when a salmon jumped, struck one of the ladies on the shoulder, and landed in the boat. On ■being brought on shore it turned the, scale at 141 b.—C. 0. Clark (Thurlestone, S Devon). _ Angling at Tokaanu.—Mr George Chirnside, of Victoria, who has been trout fishing for nearly a month at Tokaanu, left Wellington for Sydney, er route to Melbourne,, by the Moeraki on Friday evensag. He 'eft the Dominion more than jteligbted with the sport he has enjoyed, caving caught upwards of two tons of fish. lie states that the waters about Tokaanu are simply alive with fish- —in fact, they were overstocked, and as a result, the fish were hardly in so good a condition as they were when he fished at Tokaanu before. Ho concluded that this was caused by a shortage of feed. Tokaanu would be all the better if the waters were fished ov-ir by more people. I loving Angling Competitions.—The Southland Angling Club's final competition for 1909 season will be held en Wednesday, the 9th inst. The conditions ere soinewhit peculiar, inasmuch as competitors may fish from neon on Wednesday until 10 a.ni. on the following day. Competitors will, of course, fish for only a few hours, but the reason for extending the time is to 'have the time so arranged as to permit almost anyone who so desires having atrial. When a day is fixed quite a number of members are unable to participate, and it is hoped that, by the new arrangement tl'e difficulty will be got over. The club will present the prize to the winner, and three others will be given by Messrs C. Hazlett, J. M. Cochrane, and A. J. M'Credie.— Southland Times

Anglers' Etiouette. —The following :g taken from the Field, and appears over th. 3 signature of A. H. Daweon: —Noble.-S'3 oblige is a fine old-fashioned motto for one's conduct through life, but how often does one find it observed only in the ■breach? All is said to be fair in 'ovo and rlvar, "but one would hardly wish to link ,with these two forms of recreation that of angling. As a. fact, in sport generally of all kinds, what a thin dividing line is that 'Which separates a truly generous feeling and, on the other hand, what may be considered "sharp practice" as between broth at sportsmen. The particular point was brought to my mind recently after having read a iriosfc interesting article in a

well-known American sporting publication dealing wi& *a episode of wild turkey shooting in Mexico. Two friends ha,d to ; gcthc? left camp before daybreak, in the iwua l way, to locate themselves in readi•)or? near a turkey roost, awaiting daylight fot the chance of a shot; in a friendly way they had previously agreed upon their modus operandi, each selecting a chosen vantage point for secreting himself. One of the friends eventually located a gobbler, and by means of his call was decoying the bird towards him. The other friend, having already hawd his partner's call, chanced to get a glimpse of the gobbler, who was answering, mating his way through the covert and towards his friend. Then, on his own confession, the second sportsman referred to brings into play his own call, anticipating it as a proud moment if he can decoy away to himself the gobbler his friend ha 6 been luring. He succeeds, and in the end he bags his own friend]s bird. But was this quite cricket? It is a. nice point. Take the case of a dry fly stream. A and B, two friends in constant association at the riverside and elsewhere, know, we will say, two certain good fish, one of which each has separately marked down. One might reasonably infer that, as between themselves, A was to leave B's fish alone, and vice versa. They agree tc meet some morning at the river, but B is prevented from joining his friend until midday. A therefore starts alone, and reaching the bend on the river, close to one bank of which B's two-pounder is located, he chances, to see the fish rise and, deliberately take down an alder. A has got a beautifully-tied alder on, and the wind is behind him for a lovely up-stream cast. Does he or does he not have "just one throw"? The reader must answer for himself. But it is a nice point. A great friend of the writer's once had an experience which he has since persuaded himself could have been no more than a mishap, but which was for some time after its occurrence something bordering upon a nightmare to him. He was fishing a piece of dry-fly water with "his own familiar friend," for whom he had been happy indeed on several previous occasions to put the landing net safely round goodly fish: this time was the first, however, where he himself was in a large one and needed his friend's help; but three successive lunges with the net only resulting in the gut cast on each occasion being struck and nearly broken, he himself took hold of the net with the spare hand, and the incident was satisfactorily ended. It come?, after all, perhaps to this: The best of sportsmen and 'good fellows may, in the excitement of the moment, be caught unawares, and will do or say a thing that in their normal moments they will regret and perhaps blush for. One such was a man whom I met years agone many times on the polo field; he would vilify his best friend in a vicious fashion in the heat of a gartie, but when leaving the ground he would: invariably make a point of putting things right with the other man, even if he did not absolutely apologise to him. And, after all, if a faux pas. has been made, what more can one do?

A Season in New Zealand.—Mr John Bushby writes as follows to the Field: We camped four' miles up the river strictly for fly-fishing. Our party had been reinforced by Major J., who had. landed a rainbow of 171 b .last year at this spot, and who was really the first successful fisher of fly in the river. The weather was dry and bright, yet we found that it was between 12 and 2 in the glaring sun that we had most success. There were seldom blank days, and fieh ran from 51b to 141 b. Flies used were grilse size, and the most successful a. green drake with silver body and the red-tipped governor. The river is a succession of long, deep pools, and then a run, the wading and walking very hard work, the bottom being large, round boulders. The style of fishing was as for salmon. No doubt there are a certain number of rainbow always in the river, but the majority are working up from the lake to spawn, and the falling off in colour and condition was decidedly marked, and in my opinion they did not fight so well as in the lake Later on in the season, I understand, there were some very large baskets made here, but chiefly by spinning. Here our pleasant party broke up the middle of March, two to try their fortunes deerstalking, whilst I formed a camp at Waihaha, in the Westerr Bay of Lake Taupo. Here Colonel M. had been hav ing some fine sport during the months January to March, but chiefly by trolling, getting fish up to 201 b. Western Bay is a wild spot, with an unbroken stretch of 20 miles of water, so that communication with the outside world is by no means easy, and practically impossible with an easterly wind. High cliffs surround the western shore without a foothold, and it is only here and there where small rivers enter that there is a pumice shore, and valleys run back from a quarter to two miles in length. Waihaha is a small Maori settlement on the river of that name. The cliffs hero are separated by half a mile, and a valley with high cliffs gradually drawing in ends at a fine waterfall two miles away, beyond which the fish cannoj; get. Our camp was in an ideal spot, and was within 20 of a lovely pumice strand and water as clear as crystal. As companion I had an Australian, and for camp cook and attendant a local settler of 40 years' standing. March 18 saw us landed by the steamer with all our provisions, tents, etc., and diarkness set in before our camp was ready, and a well-earned meal prepared. Fortunately for us, a good rain came, and whilst making it unpleasant in camp and delaying the fishing, it brought down the river in a brown flood, and attracted the fish to the mouth. It was the 21st before we. got to work, and as we only had the one boat we decided to go out together, taking it vurn andl turn about to fish Our first morning, or rat hat two hours'- fishing, resulted in six fine fish, and, in the same time in the afternoon a similar number; thes-3 fish were some of the smallest we caught during our stay, but still the aggregate was well over 1001b_ The flies were Silver Doctor and Wilkinson No. 2 siza Next day similar sport, but our difficulties began! What were we to do with our fish? Unfortunately the Maori village was deserted; man, woman, and' child having gone off to a Tangi (something similar to. an Irish wake) at Taupo, which lasteJ three weeks or a month. Our consumption would be covered by a fish a day; salting could only bo done sparingly, as our salt was limited; and out communication with the outside world entirely dependent on. casual visits of thr r steamer at unknown periods-. To waste fish is against my principle, so it was simply a question of limit-

ing catch. Had we wishedi som« extraordinary catches could have been made. On© morning in two and a-half hours I landed 12 fish, largest 141 b, smallest 71b. whereas my companion in the afternoon brought in 14- fish. Occasionally I waded at tho mouth of the river, but as a rule we took the boat turn about. For instance, I would fish during the afternoon and again the next morning, so that there was never more than one rod at work a f , a time, and on days when the fishing wa3 at its best we had to desist altogether, which was very tantalising. As a rule we anchored tha boat in 10ft to 12ft of water at the edge of the current, throwing out a long line, allowing it to sink a foot or so, then worked the fly very slowly towards the boat. .At times I do not know what flies would not have taken. I am fond of experimenting, and on one of my off after r.ljons tied |six inonde>sGri|pt fancy flies and the next morning fished fchem in succession, catching fish on all, and then gave up at 10.30; but, on the whole, I would award the palm to the old stagers, Jock Scott and Silver Doctor, tied on No. 3 newsize. It need not be imagined this sport was always to be obtained, for although• blank days wero almost unknown they occurred occasionally, chiefly owing to an east wind raising a heavy surf, and even if it was safe to venture out in the boat it so stirred up the light pumice shore that the trout seemed to leave our bay for a while. The weather on the whole was dolightful, but towards the beginning of May we had days of unsettled strong east winds, so that it was impossible to launch the boat or for the steamer to call in with provisions. The lake stands about 1300 ft above sea level, and towards the end of our visit the nights were very cold, water left in the basin being more than once frozen solid. Yet the temperature of the water -n the lake was such that we were always able to get our morning plunge. Four miles to the south is another small bay with the River Wanganui flowing in, around which there are also plenty of trout; but a party camped there were not successful with the fly. Then four miles to the north is the Waihora River, another good fishing ground. Also on the western shore is the Kuratou, where excellent trout have been killed. At the south end of the laike is the Tongariro, which I have already described, and the Tauranga Taupo, good at times; on the eastern side the- only river so far exploited" is the Waitahanui, but this I understand is too much fished, it being more accessible. -Camps can be fixed up through Oaptain Ryan, of Taupo, at short notice, and he arranges to call in wtitht his .steamer bringing supplies. I may mention that it is only this season that tho trout have begun to take the artificial fly, and the fame of the sport being freely sproad I am afraid *n the future there will be too much of a rush for Lake Taupo, which may lead to a good deal of disappointment, as the fly fishing ground at each river is only sufficient for two or three rods at the outside. So far as my experience goes, it is useless at present fishing with a fly, except at the river mouths Our own river, the Waihaha, ,- s sluggish, and always hold a few fish, but in my opinion, is useless to the fly-fisher; they can be caught, as we proved, but until the end of the season possibly the river fish cannot compare with those of the lake either for condition or sport. Underneath the waterfall already mentioned is a large basin; but" although it holds both rainbow and brown trout, on the two occasions we gave it a trial it was most disappointing. My previous experience of rainbows has been that the rainbow colouring iis very tnarkied, whereas in Lake Taupo on a well-conditioned fish the colouring can barely be detected. This applies particularly to the hen fish, and- they might be salmon so far as colouring goes. The cock fish, even in first-class condition, always shows more or less colour on its gills. During the seven weeks of our camp at Waihaha, fishing turn about, and seldom for more than three hours each a day, never more than four, the joint bag has been 275 fish, weighing 29001 b, heaviest 181 b, smallest 61b, all on fly. Best catch one day, 26 fish, 2401 b. The history of a good many lakes in the neighbourhood has been that they begin with a flourish of trumpets like Taupo this year, but gradually fall off in condition, and size. Lake Taupo is a much larger sheet of water, and whilst the average size is hardly likely to remain as good, I think good" fishing is assured for some years. It is said that it is -not more than six years since rainbows were introduced there, which seems almost incredible to me.