ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2955, 2 November 1910, Page 64

ANGLING.

By Jock Scott.

To be a perfect fishermen you require mors axbellencies than are usually to b 3 found in such "» ?t»all apace as is allotted to a man's carcase.— JaRXBR GILIfOUR. = |tS&ders are invited to contrive items of local flihlog mews for insertion in this column. For i&aertion in the ensuing isf.ie they should reach Dnnedin by Monday night's mail.

COMPETITIONS. 'CJm following competitions have bean fixed for the season by the- O'ago Anglers' Association: — | Waipahi River, November 12.—Bare fly competition. First and second prizes, go.d " medeuis; third prize, trophy. Waipahi River, November 14.—First, second, and third prizes, trophies. Tho Molyneux.—The Kaitangata correspondent of" the Free Press writes that Mr John M'Alpine, a local angling enthusiast, landed a "big un" on Tuesday afternoon from the Koau Branch, near Mr Steele's place. The fish was a real beauty, and turned the scale at 131 b Boz. _ With the warmer weather fish are becoming more in evidence in the river at Balclutha. The othei' morning Mr Alex. Rattray secured a nice four-pounder, and on Wednesday Mr D. G. Algie got three fish, totalling 621 b, in the early morning- at the reserve. —The Free Press of the 25th October says the Molyneux has been rather dirty for nshinsr iduriig the past week, and there have been no bags worth recording. Prior to the fresh Mr Win. Willocks, of Stony Creek, * skilful wielder of the rod, secured nine beauties near the Mouth, the average weight being 21b. Whitebait are much in evidence in the tidal waters, and at Kaitangata good hauls have been made of this delicacy by means of scoop nets. At the tidal lock on tho Puerua also largo numbers of the small fry have been netted. The Waipahi.—The Free Press of the 25th October states that two local anglers (Messrs Andrew Thow and D. Crowe) were to leave by .'hat nifjht's express for the Waipahi. where they intended to spend a weak. Word had been received that the Waipahi was in first-rate order. The Waiwera. —A brace of local anglers (Messrs W H. King and Geo. 11. Thompson) tried tho Waiwera on Wednesday near the Gorge, but tho fish were not "on the 30b," although evidently plentiful, and nine small ones was tho sum of the anglers' revard. —Free The Popaahaka.—The Tapanui Courier writes that owing to thn dirty state of the Pomahaka River, some of the district anglers visited Waiwera Stream last week. The same paper reports that some anglers are descending to "worming" rn the coloured waters of the Pomahaka. The Fraser River. —So far no great catches have been reported since the owning of the fishing season, due probably to the high state of the rivers. Several moderate successes have been recorded amongst local anglers, the favourite resort being on the upper reaches of the Fraser River.— I 'Alexandra Herald. The Otamote. —The banks of the Otamete j S,ver wsre thronged with fishermen from t parts on Sunday (writes a correspondent | of the Gore Ensign). The most successful j angler was Mr A. E. Boult. who caught j 21"; odd splendid trout with the Greenwcll's j G,.3ry and Blue Dun. Others caught from j ori<» to a dozen gocd-si»ed trout. • The Kawarau. —LocaJ anglers sav that j there is some splendid fishing- io he got j in the Kawarau Ri.'er between the Falls and the junctio.i with the Shotoyer. On" j party got a fino basketful containing 16 or 18 nice fish last week. They rweraged 3Jlh each, and \v->re in good condition and of excellent quality when oooked. Fish apnear i io be gettmsr more plentiful in th<s lake. as evidenced by the Inrge number that are 1 to be seen every day in the vieinitv of the breakwater and wharf. —Wakatipu Mj»U. Angling A ton!: Win ten. "March Brown," writing in the Winton Record', eaya: "Over 60 eels were landed within an hour by Mr J. A. Horner and party who -journeyed to the Oreti on Tuesday fright. This form of sport, is very popular just now. Fishing duaring the past week nas been anvthimr but of an exciting

fin© weather during the incoming week, some good bags should be recorded. One. local angler, however, was successful in bagging the- "limit" in the Oreti on Sunday, while several fishers igot some nice fisn from the Winton Creek. A party iovcrneyed to tiho Otapiri one day during tho week", and found the river in capital fettle ; but, while the fish were plentiful, they were exceptionally shy irk approaching the lures used. , However, the three anglers managed to land 50 fish between them ; so their luck was not so bad. I have received an interesting communication from an Invercargill correspondent in re netting-. which will, no doubt, be read with interest:—'Fishermen require to take out a license of £1 to net trout, and fishmongers require to pay Id per lb royalty on all trout sold; consequently a record has to be kept for the latter purpose : —Paid for season 1907-8, 2751 b; amount <paid, £lO It's 4d. Paid for season 1908-9, 2l01b; amount paid, £8 17s 7d. Fishermen maintain that there is an enormous increase of trout, yet they caught 6501 b less last season, and, needless to say, they do not let many get past them. The Southland Acclimatisation Society's Council has passed and forwarded on to tho Minister of Marine the following resolution: —"That in the opinion of this council it is inadvisable to alter m any way the existing regulations with regard to the netting and sale of trout," and further state that, with a full knowledge of the position, and as the representative body of the 1000 odd anglers in. Southland Council, trust that no alteration will be made in the existing regulations in the direction of further extending the season. The Selwyn.—A £ood catch of trout was made recently by Mr P. J. Molloy from the Selwyn River, the catch consisting of 51 trout, weighing 85Mb. Two Canterbury Rivens.— A Ghristchurch paper says that the fishing season has been pretty good in tho north branch of the Waimakariri and the Cam. One or two good baskets were taken last week, including one catch of four fish weighing a total or about 201 b. Mr G. Martin landed a 10-pounder, and others weighing 51b, 31b, 21b, and lib, on a recent evening, in the upper part of the fishing limits. Visitors to Southland Streams. —Quite a number of fishermen from Dunedin are now visiting the Southland streams (says the Free Press). Almost every day the followers of old Isaak may be seen passir.athrough on the expresses. The other dayone gentlelman was bound for Fairfax to fish the Jacob's River, where there is said to be excellent fishing. Wyndham Angers' Association. —At a re cent mooting of tho Wyndham Anglers' Association it was decided- to hold tho next angling competition on November 30 ; hour; of fishing, 10 a.m. to 6 ,p.m. ; weigh- : n at Nutsford's Hall. Messrs A. and W. M'Cairthy and Mr James Mitchell ("Burnbrae," Matanra) are presenting trophies Tor the next competition, and probably ther.3 will bo donations from other sources; so that the association hopes to offer a good prize-list for the November competition Advice was received from the Southland Anglers' Club, inviting members of the Wyndham Anglers' Association to compete in the former body's competition on 9th November. The secretary was requested to write to_ the Mataura' Anglers' Club, suggesting that an inter-club angling competition be held between Mataura and Wyndham, some time during the season. The Temuka.—Fishermen state that fairly good sport is to be obtained at pr*sent, but the fish caught are on the small side. On Saturday afternoon last Mr Crawford, of Temuka, landed a beautiful s£lb salmon trout from the Temuka River, with a March Brown fly on. The fish gave him splendid sport, and took fully an hour to tire.—Temuka Post.

j The Voracious Eel.—Last week one of t the paper mill employees at Woodhaugh ! caught an eel in the Lsith at the back of the mill weighing 101 b. On it being opened it was found to contain seven young trout, j 4;n to sin long. I A Good Outlook for Southland Rivers.— The following contributed note appeared in i a recent issue of the Southland Times:— : "Anglers can confidently look forward to a I good season on Southland waters this season, j as unlike Canterbury and Otago streams | they have not suffered through the effects 1 of the drought. The Oreti. which is perhaps one of the best rivers in the South Island, has not been at its best yet owing to the snow water still coining down. The Makarewa, on the other hand, has never given better results, and four and five good iish for an hour or two's fishing after tea is common. It is convenient to town anglers both by 'bus and train. Anyone wishing three or four hours of the best evening fishing could leave by th& 4.15 'bus and bike back at their convenience. A hint that is worth knowing won the prize at the recent competition. It is well known that when snow water is in the river the temperature is lowered considerably, and tho hatch of fly is for the time stopped and the fish consequently resort to bottom-feeding. The angler would therefore have more chance in a backwater or lagoon adjacent, which would not be affected by the condition of the river." Eels for Exportation,—Whilst on the subject of eels (says "Spinner"), I note that a German exporter is, after a ton, which he intends to treat under a new system. This is to form the basis of a series of experiments. I understand a trial shipment is to be made to Germany early. Eels are regarded as a great delicacy in many parts of Australia. I have had them served up many limes, and must confess that I was very partial to them. Folk hereabouts have such a horror of them for table purposes, doubtless owing to their being so plentiful, and now I would think twice before eating them. An Angler's Experience.—A correspondent of the Southland Times writes :—"lt is reported that a looel civil servant, who is an enthusiastic angler, made a special trip to Oporo last week to inquire of a farmer :!"• to the whereabouts of a certain bull which annoyed the angler when fishing last season. I understand that the farmer has promised to keep the cow's husband within hound;-, which is just as well, for the angler threatened to take a p.~a rifle with him its well as a rod when next he went afishing in the .vicinity." Sneared Trout.—A member of the Stratford Acclimatisation Society at a recent meeting mentioned that out. of a basket of eight trout he had recently caught, four had mutilated, evidently with spears, j one fish having a hole in its side unmistakably made by this agency. The society haying evidence that a lot of poaching is going on, intends offering a reward for information that will lead to a eonviciion. Southland Fish Stories. —A competitor in the recent, competition (is this a lish yarn?) was mat by anothe.- who had caught eight eels. He had bed fishing with the worm.

eels as he had them on a. string', he replied, "Why, weigh in of course!" There was no stipulation that the fish must be trout; only "fish" was mentioned: and if -an angler got this lot at home he would reckon he had a mighty good bag. This may be a true yarn, but in any case the man with the eels failed to weigh in.—Here are two more from the same quarter, and my informant vouches for the truth of the' "yarns": We have read of cats, dogs, and bears catching fish, but what about a cow? I can vouch for the following, that one of the first fish of the season (a two-pounder) was landed by a cow with rod and line. The explanation is this: The owner of the rod (a "vvormer") having set his rod adjourned to get fresh bait. A cow wandered in to the ford for a drink. A fish had taken the worm, and the line became entangled round the cow's leg, with the result that the fish was landed and dragged ; along with the rod about two chains up the bank. That is a fact! In this same sti-eam a town angler hooked a good fish which snagged him. Removing his nether garments, he waded in, feeling his way carefully with his feet. Reaching the snag he could feel the fish, and bending down he could see in the dusk what he took to be its silvery side. With his gaff ho made a | beautiful stroke, but, alas! buried It two J inches into the calf of his log.—Exchange. Tho number of trout of all sorts in. Rotoj rua is almost incredible, says an exchange. ! During a thin-out drag by the official some i time ago one haul resulted in the capture !of 850 fish. A second haul over the same | ground produced over 400 victims.