ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2978, 12 April 1911, Page 64

ANGLING.

By Jock Scott.

Tor be a perfect fisherman you require more nccllemiic, *han are usually to be found in such « small space as is allotted to a man's carcase.— ' »ARKHH GILMOUR. Readers are invited to contribute items of local fishing news for Insertion in this column. For taaertion in the ensuing issue " they should reach Donedin by Monday night's mail. ■ -

RANK XOTIE*I. With the rapidly-approaching close of ibe- angling season, tisliing news is completely " off." Town men 6eem to be Going practically nothing, and what country" anglers are doing they keep to themselves. I hear that several are girding up their loins for a final onslaught at Easter, and* hope to. be able to record that the vie&iy wait during the drought has been rewarded in the end. The cleansing of the Water of Leith has been going on, and an improved condition of . things has been brought about; but the water must have been so disturbed that no material benefit can accr-ue 'to anglers until next season. ' I-note that "Spinner" has an interesting article in the Southland Times of the 31st xrfti concerning Government's experiment »<th the Atlantic salmon, 1,000,000 ova of whioh have- been placed in the hatchery at Lake Te Anau. The perpetual injunction restraining the defendants in the action Quin against the Empire Gold Dredging Company from carrying on dredging operations in the Pomabaka River has not yet been assented to by defendants. The draft sets out that the defendants, their servants, agents, workmen, and others shall be restrained from carrying on dredging operations in or near the bed of the river, or otherwise in or near their special claim, in such a manner that silt, clay, debris, or other foreign matter, the washings of the soil operated ■upon in the course of dredging, or of disintegrating dredging material, shall be discharged into the river so as to cause same to flow to the plaintiff's lands in a state less pure than that it flowed there previously to the commencement of such dredging operations, and to the __injury of plaintiffs; provided the defendants might, during May, June, July, August, and September in each year, operate or move their dredge across the bed of the r.iver without being deemed to commit a breach of law or of the writ of injunction. A clause also sets out that defendants shall pay the costs of the proceedings on the lowest scale, with the further sum of £7 7s, in respect of the motion for the interim injunction, and disbursements and witnesses'' expenses. Wyndham Anglers' Society.—A local paper states that the Wyndham Anglers' Society is to hold its final competition today. The conditions are: —Any river and any legal bait other than worm or creeper; hours from 8 a.m. onward, provided that the competitor weigh-in at Zealandia Hall between 8.30 and 9 p.m. The prizes -will fee: First, trophy, value 10s 6d, presented by Mr John Millar; second, trophy, value 7s od; for heaviest fish, trophy, value ss. This competition will decide the prize (a fly rod, value £2 2s) for the best aggregate for the season (confined to those who have not prior to this season won a first prise for heaviest bag). The eligible Competitors with weights to their credit \re—Messrs J. L. Rinsrsland (91b 14oz), A. Melrose (71b soz), A. Todd (21b 4oz), G. Smart (lib Roz). There is a chance for any competitor vpf, ps these weights are not large. —The Wyndham Farmer writes: "From now on the rivers should be in better" order than they have been durinsr the past three months; and some good ' bags' should therefore be recorded." A "boss" fish yarn.—"On one of the tributaries of the Waiau two settlers had noticed., unbeknown to each other, a large trout in a deep hole in the river. At the dusk of an evening Farmer A. managed to get on to him, and. whilst he was playing the fish. Farmer 8.. on the opposite bank, spinning an artificial minnow, foul hooked the same fish close to the tail. Now, when youVe spinning, you strike at onoe; but Farmer A. knew that, live baiting with his single hook tackle, he would have to give the trout time to carry off the bait and rjouch it: so he waited, and watched his line gentlv running out, for the fellow on the onposite ba7">k had struck his fish at once and was reelingr in to his side, till Farmer A. considered it about time to strike. Bnd crave such a tug that it nearly pulled liho fellow on the other bank into the water. When Farmer A. had nearly got the fish to the bank, the other fellow thought it best to put a Littiv! men* pressure on, so he crave the fish the but*-., and Farmer A., thinking

the fish was starting on another run, let him take out line again, while the other fellow reeled it in to his side. And so these two deluded fishers went on see-sawing that lish backwards and forwards, across the river, the one hauling it in with his tackle fast in its mouth and the other craning it back by the tail, both under the fond impression that they were playing a giant trout as long as-a temperance address, until in short the other fellow's tackle broke. The astonishment of Farmer A. when he lifted that trout out was worth seeing. Ot course, it had had a good deal of strain on it. It had once been a trout of some Id inches long, but the pulling had stretched it out into three yards of fish ribbon—and Farmer A., who is a Scotchman, and being an economical sort of chap, tacw it home and dried it, and his ploughman used it all the year for a whip-lash."—Southland exC Fish—Under this headin"- Mr Frank Wemyss gives a graphic recital of an experience which, unique in many respects, is not -altogether unknown to anglers. Twice-hooked fish are not exactly uncommon, but the circumstances under'which Mr Wemyss made his capture certainly are. Eliminating the introductory- portion of the rather lengthy account written by M:r Wemyss to the Field, the article runs:—"But fishermen of all people must not \ meet sorrow halfway. The first thing is to get into the fish, and trust to Providence for the rest; and so on this boisterous October evening I set to work to cover the gravel bank opposite with a big Durham ranger. The 18ft rod sent out 30 odd yards of lino without any effort. The fly, pitched well over and worked by the rod' point, came across the stream in short jerks up and back. The currentbrought it righ't against the wall, and some care was necessa,ry to avoid letting the point touch the stones when lifting it outTen yards were covered without result, and then came the slightest of checks when the fly was halfway across. The point was raised, but there was no answering strain. It might have been a piece of driftwood crossing the line, or—it might have been a fish. I waited a minute, and then sent out the fly on the same cast as before. Just in the same place came the same check, but this time there was no "mistake when the point went up. The reel screamed as the fish tore down and across straight for the sunken iree. However, there is no stopping a fish in his first run in a strong stream, and all I could do was to keep the point of the rod high and hope he would either go over the the obstacle pr stop short of it; and he did the latter, turning back into the heavy water. Here he hung v for a minute or two, and then pushed up to where he had been hooked By this time I had. reaiised it was an extra big fish The whole cast—over four yards—was under water, and though, trusting t:> the stout gut and big hook, I put the very utmost strain on, I could- make no impression on him whatever. From the nature of the place it was necessary to get a fish dead beat before gaffing him, as the only place to land him was just round the corner of the wall, and this was awkward enough. For 20 minutes the oast never showed itself above the water, the fish having kept resolutely at the bottom, making nothing of the tremendous strain I kept on. And all I had seen of him was once the gleam of a white underside deep down below my feet; and then —the rod straightened, the futile fly came back, a.nd I was left lamenting, with the horrible feeling- that perhaps the fish of a lifetime had just escaped. This happened on a Wednesday. The following Tuesday, being the last day of the season, found me at the. same place. The water had risen the night after t u e events just related, and l was now again for the first time fishable, though very high. The same fly was tied on, and a start made in the same place. Again came the fruifcles.--check to the line, and again at the second attempt I was fast in a fish. But here history ceased to repeat itself. Like a flash he had turned down stream, and, hugging the wall, was round it before I had time even to raise the rod. The line was flying from the reel, and bv the time I was able to get to the end of the wall and so diis( engage the line from ' it, the fish was a hundred yards away in the bier pool below, il followed down the bank, lifting the rod up to clear the alder, and reeling in as I went. There is only one possible place to land a fish in this pool, and that a very precarious one, and some way farther down. But it was too soon to think of the end. When. I came opposite the fish he ran straight across the- pooi, which is here some 40 yards in width, and a-liribst stranded himself on the far side I could see his back from head to tail, and from the length visions of a 40-pounder arose. Just below him was a bush marooned in the stream, a flood having washed its wav between it and the bank: and. to my horror, the fish turned and trifd to pats down the 'ar side of the little islet. If once he fucceedod in getting right round all was *ost, !mt to stop him seemed almost hopeless. Already the bush hid him from roe, the line bearing round the lower branches. Holding on all I dared, I started back up the bank, letting line ofTI the r<«©l as I went, till I reached the rmd of the wall, which, protecting inti the r-t'-eam, loft me clear of the overhar>firinq- alders. The fish was still hetwem +he HmH and the bank, so, risking nil I reeled in till the rod point Was on and 'eon, holding the line. rai=od it —and something had to shift. I doubled the <*«•«*. which had had such a ,c->rn'->in<r the end of the -wall: but i-"->fhina- f»nv" wav. and ineh by inch the fish "am" and when elea.r- of the bush ">n to mid-"tream. Back I went down the Wnk, v«v V>t bv this time with the exertion of Keldino- the "if rod im ovpr the tows of tKa alders. I found the fish wm "v?+tine- 'lone, but was quite out of s'flrht. ■~vnen* when vn the other side of the river. Sho-whr>-must-be-obc>Ted w»s with mo. and ■>v.pnf-. on to mark the solitarv openinp- in tKe which is some 300 yards below the wall. Here at a gap pome 4ft wide it is possible to stand on the ho.rizont.pl roots of a somewhat in-"deouato alder, and, nnavincr that notbi.nsr will <rive way and so -nreeipitate you into Aft of water, to the surface with a g»ff. Having trained this roint of vantage I was able to see up stream close under my own hank, and, to w» great lev. there was the fish on his side close under overhanging branches. Without much difficulty he was towed slowly down. Tt was necessary k> bring him rierht to mv feet, a* if he once went nalst down stream almost, all hone would have vanished. The gaff was ready, when —horrible dictu!—just out of reach 1 , the caat fouled a prolectinsr branch. There was the bier fish anchored 6tn beyond the (raff, feeblv snlashina - on the surface. For what, seemed an age the position •jlfcfl thus, and then the branch slowly bearrb and gradually let the

fish drop down towards mo. I would have given a fiver for a longer gafD, or for something more stable than water to step on to, but at last I was able' to slip the gaff into the root of the tail. It was touch and go whether the fish and I and the xod would fall into the water together, but, throwing the red—the, oast had; broken as the gaff mad© its stroke —high up the bank, I was able to shorten the gaff in my hand and lift the fish, hanging head downwards, clear of the water. Then, the lady lending a band, I climbed up 4-ft of perpendicular bank, and a. moment, later the big fish was knocked on the head. Forty-five inche: he was from nose to tail, but of his weight the less said th© better. Then: the mystery of the previous Wednesday was disclosed. T"he tail was slit right through the middle, in the root of which he had evidently been foul-hooked on that occasion, which would account for his making nothing of the tremendous strain put on ' him, mostly from below, for 20 minutes. It was tho more probably the same fish, as he was a very unusual sizo for the water. Whether this was the case or not, ho gave me a most exciting quarter of an hour, the only fly in the ointment being that he had not seen fit to attach himself to th© line six months sooner or Jater, when he would have been a very different fish."