ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2929, 4 May 1910, Page 64

ANGLING.

By Jock Scott.

To be a perfect fisherman you require more taotUonciej than are usually to be found in such % small space as is allotted to a man's carcase. — fjRKER SILMOTTR. Eeftdcr3 are invited to contribute item 3of local Ashing - news for insertion in this column. For Jntertion in the ensuing issue they should reach Pvmedin by Monday night's mail.

K4XK NOTJER.

In bidding farewell to anglers till next leason I hav© to express my thanks to Miose who have assisted in keaping me posted with information concerning what has been going forward in their districts. IThe number has, unfortunately, been few, but to such as have gone out of their way Jo supply reports I record my sincere thanks. It has been my custom to extend the column one week beyond the alloted to enable anglers to send in an approximation of-their aggregate catches for the season, but at the time of writing nothing of that sort has come to hand, as in former years. Taken as a whole, the fishing this year has not been of the best, though some of the Otago and Southland rivers have yielded exceptionally well, notably the Oreti. The famous Waiau seems to have tione right off, but probably next season'will see it back to its old form. I hope that .may be the case, not only with the Waiau, but other streams, most of which have suffered more or Jess frond want of water.

Southland Acclimatisation Society.—The one item of interest, as far as this column •is concerned, in the report of last meeting icf the Southland Acclimatisation Society is a petition from a number of Bluff fisher«>en asking the society to move in the matter of having the restrictions placed on the petting of sea trout, removed. They asked .that they might be allowed to take any isea trout that might happen to enter their 'nets, and pointed out that there wa6 no 'tributary river entering the harbour.—The Chairman thought that the request was rather out of the question. Bluff fishermen had the same rights as Other fishermen in to sea trout —on payment of the £1 license which entitled them to four months' fishing. He moved that the society recommend' that the present regulations were sufficient. Mr Leary: "Hear, Jiear." The Chairman, continuing, said that to -grant the request would be monstrous. Were it supported, and eventually granted, the fishermen everywhere would be demanding a similar errant. He thought that the portion referring to the fish that "might enter the net" was good. —(Laughter.). —Mr Steans seconded the motion, Which was carried unanimouslv.

Clearing Rivers in the Angilinig Season.— 'kt. the annual meeting of the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society an angler present >om plained that the river-cleaners made a fctarfc on their operations in the Heathcote kt the cpehing of the fishing season, and that the river was kept in a state of unrest throughout the season. He desired- to know whether it was any use liberating fry in a stream that was kept in that condition. The Chairman (Dr B. M. Moorhouse) agreed that it would be a very fcreat advantage if the authorities would Slean the Avon and the Heathcote in the bff season, but another angler present, who taid he was well acquainted with the Styx, tointed out that the .weeds only grew at a «rtain time of the year, and had to be {leaned' up * then. He' considered the 'leathcote a beautiful fishing' stream, and Sr-ged that more fish should be put into it.A Jr'rotcst.—At the annual meeting of the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society a letter 'pias received from Mr Edgar F. Stead, frith-drawing his nomination for election to *e in-coming" council, owing to the <>xIremeiy unsatisfactory attitude of the Uownment in regard to acclimatisation

societies genet -ily. - On the motion of the oha.ittraa.il a i<*sorution was passed expressing the regref of the meeting that Mr Stead had fou«d it necessary to withdraw his name. Rapid Growth of a Salmon.—The transactions of the N«?s District Fishery Board reveals a very interesting fact in regard to the quickness witfc which a salmon can put on weight. On ikbnuary 27 last a female salmon kelt was taken on the Doehfour waters, and havir>p been marked was returned to the wat**. On August 19 the fish was caught in tue Cromarty coast nets. The fish when oaptiired at Dochfoui measured 35in in length and scaled 81b. When retaken it scaled 231 b, was clean, and longer than in February by 3in. Surely an increase of 151 b in six months must be pretty close to, if indeed it does not constitute, a record. A Novel Hook. -Mr Charles Ashford, Birmingham, sends us (Field) some specimens of a form of hook which he has patentee, and which has a decidedly novel appearance. The wire is bent into a loop between the shank and the barb, giving the hook the appearance of having a second eye, or an eye—in the case of an un-eyed fipecimen—in" a wholly unexpected quarter. The object of this is to give the hook greater elasticity, and therefore greater strength. Mr Ashford claims that the extra elasticity acts favourably, not only on the hook itself, but also on the gut attained to it, a thing which is easily intelligible. He also says he has found, "after a number of tests to the breaking point, that the coil in the bend gives to the entire hook a play and resilience that takes up the jar or sudden jerking strain which occurs if the hook is cast on to a hard substance such as a gravel path, or snatched at when foul of the branch of a tree." There -are certain obvious disadvantages about such a hook—for dry-fly fishing, its extra weight, which is not much, it is true, but every little tells; for worm fishing, its shape—the barbel fisher would find it impossible, or at any rate very difficult, to "threadle" his worm in the approved manner; for wetfly fishing, its appearance—there is £o much the more "iron" to catch the trout's sharp eyes; and other objections might be made to it. " For all that, however, there aire some kinds of fishing in which we can conceive it supplying a felt' want if it behaves as it has behaved with the inventor, and as it should behave from its look. Salmon fishers, for instance, who have suffered from broken hooks might do worse than give it a trial, while sea anglers might find it useful. It is made in three shapes, round, sneok, and Limerick (the loop being differently located in each), with or without eyes. A Half-hour with a Big Trout.—E. B. Kennedy recounts in the Field how he took a big trout. Eliminating the introductory part, the article reads:—Having refreshed I put off and told the little lad who was managing my punt to paddle slowly along the lip of the large foss, keeping, however, well out of the suck. Spinning over a deep hole at one side of this and some 100 yards from the first of the broken water, the line was suddenly held fast. "Doubtless a snag" was my thought, so I gave a moderate snatch, when away tore something with a long and terrific rush up stream. Then began round No. 1. The ; old reel, unaccustomed to such a sudden onslaught on its interior, shrieked, yelled, and growled as if possessed; yard after yard flew off it. The boy behaved nobly, pulling for his life. If he had not done : so something would have parted, for before ' the first lull came eight or 10 yards only I remained on the reel. Recovering a good j bit of line the effect of a strain roused the i demon below in unwonted fashion. Round No. 2 consisted of a heavy rush across , and luckily rather up stream. The fear j was that be might, contrary to the usual I tactics of big fish, take the foss, when ! "all would have soon been o'er," but he j fought fair. Presently, getting another ! pull on him, I brought him slowly towards I our camp. Thus was the stern of the | punt turned towards the fish, but the dodge • of gently urging him towards shallower i water caused this grand fighter to become I furious. In round No. 3 the strenuous j rushes he had already undertaken seemed j to impart new strength into his body, and j evidently having found his second "wind," 'he turned him about. Now the boy | showed his; mettle, too, as he had to back j the square stern of the punt against stream, | which act he accomplished with speed and vigour. Then I sent forth a yell, both to let off steam and to inform others that I had something on. This woke them up, for a volo9 from the woods sang out, " What the dickens are you doing?" Utterly breathless, and having to keep my ©yes fixed on the gear, I could not move. Another long rush ended in my turning and keeping him this time with his nose the right way. The other boat was now approaching as we began to shoal the water, getting into 3ft on a. rocky bottom. My ; brother was now rowed up alongside. " Get him to a short stay," he said. As in halibut fishing the two boats were touching. The knockout. We could see the I fish turning on his side. Here was help j indeed,, for I could never have lifted fish i and net with the left arm. My brother | slipped the hoop under and lifted him into j the punt, and, before giving- more than i «, glance at the fish, rendered first aid to ; the angler, who v»as shaking as with an I aque and bathed in perspiration, in the ; shape of a stiff nobbier of brandy. The | trout was a grand ccck fish of exactly ; HJslb, fat and thick to the tail. He was hooked in the right pectoral fin; two of the tiny triangles had stripped out of the web, whilst one hook only of the first one had held, but that was one so buried in the fleshy nob at the root of the fin that it was some time before we could cut it out. „

Spinning for Perch.—The following short article on spinning for perch is taken from the English Field:—The old idea that perch are easy to catch, which bad been much helped by Walton's memorable passage on their habits and customs, cannot now be very widely entertained. Small perch can still, it is true, be taken freely in many places, but except in a very few choice preserves their larger brethren, say from Jib upwards, arc as ,har,d to entice as any fish which anglers commonly pursue. A five-brace basket of perch over |lb is now a thing to be -prowl of if made on any of the waters to which the ordinary angler has access, and some of us have learnt to be well rcntent with a modest three brace or even two. Still, the attraction of perch-fishing is not less for that reason—indeed, its difficulty and uncertainty

tend to increase its charm, and many anglers who are devoted to salmon and j trout to the exclusion of most other fish I still retain a warm corner in their affec- • tions for the beautiful, game, and elusive perch. Even those who hold the view that a fish which is not good eating is not worth catching (and they are somewhat numerous) cannot include the perch in this category; caught in a clear, clean river he is better meat than most trout, and to be despised on no breakfast table. Among the .many methods of catching perch spinning is perhaps the pleasantest, though it is not very much practised. This may be due to the fact that it. is not the most certain way. of success; perch are rather fickle in the matter of spinning baits, and hard work on the angler's part often meets with scanty results. Still, spinning has great attractions, among them being the variety of scene and the exercise gained as one wanders along the river side, trying all the likely spots, runs between weeds, swims under clay banks, deep holes beneath willow trees, eddies round old piles, and so on. A light spinning rod with easy-run-ning reel and! fine line, a tin box holding a couple of dozen minnows packed in bran, and another box for traces, flights, leads, and three or four artificial baits, these, with a slung landing-net, make up the necessary impedimenta, and do not constitute a very formidable load. It does not much matter what flight of hooks one uses for the natural minnow. The Dee flight, which consists of two triangles at the vent of the bait and a lead in its mouth, is good, but it necessitates the use of a baiting needle. The simplest flight consists of a triangle and a liphook; this is quite enough armament for a minnow of l£in or 2in, and one oan make the bait revolve very quickly with it —an important consideration. " Those who feel safer with mqre hooks can have two or even three triangles, after the manner of Thames troutfishers. The trace need not be stout; one gets more fun out of perch by using the finest undrawn gut, which is considered strong enough for big trout on a chalk stream, and is certainly not too fine for fish which are neither so heavy nor powerful as they. An adjustable lead painted dark green, and adapted in size to circumstances (the distance to be cast, the nature of the weather, clearness of the water, and ao on), should be fixed to the trace about 2ft or 3ft from the bait. Two swivels ought to be enough. Artificial baits are legion, and most of them have killing properties. The wagtail has proved attractive to perch of recent years, while the old-fashioned gold and silver Devons are a perpetual stand-by, being particularly good in the rough water of weirs or milltails. Small 6poons, phantoms, quill minnows —there is no spinning bait at which perch will not run sometimes. Often, indeed, they will attack quite big baits intended for pike. It is unfortunately also true that pike will run at the baits intended for perch, which occasions loss of tackle. That .cannot be helped, and the angler will find it cheaper to make up his own flights, the loss of which will not be a serious matter. Much may be done . with eyed triangles and; adjustable liphooks. In rivers long casting is not as a rule necessary, since perch are usually to be found pretty close to the banks. The bait should revolve quickly, but move along rather slowly, and it often pays to spin with the stream rather than against it. Perch which have refused a bait coming up from behind them will often run at it when it comes down towards them. In deep water, too, it pays to try spinning the bait from the bottom to the top, to sink and draw it, and generally to vary its 'motion. , Lastly, when a perch is hooked it is wise to waste no time in getting it to the net; there is no fish, not even a grayling, which is more prone to get free at the critical moment.