ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3334, 6 February 1918, Page 45

ANGLING.

By Joox Scott. To be a perfect fisherman you require more excellencies than are usually to be found in such a small space as is allotted to a man's oarease. —- Parker Gilmour. Headers are' Invited to contribute items of local Ashing newß for insertion in this column. For insertion in the ensuing issue they should reach Duuedin by Monday night's mail.

BANK NOTES.

Mr George Sise thus records his recent fishing . experience:—"Last week-end J spent on the Opihi, and found that this river has been very disappointing. So far this season the local anglers all have had very poor results. Since Christmas the river' has been very high. Plenty of good fish are to bo seen, and they are iiv excellent condition, but will not readis rise -to the fly. I never saw bo much natural feed in the river, and towards the end of the season, if the water is normal, record baskets ought to be-the order of the day. On Saturday evening last I counted 11 rods on the river, and the net result was a poor unfortunate herring! I believe a few fish are being caught with bully and natural minnow after dark, but nqt to any great extent. The Kakanui is in good order, and I hear anglers are meeting with fair success both at GemmelFs Crossing and at the fellmongory, Greenwell' s Glory, March Brown, and Hardy's Favourite being 'the most successful lure. The Shag: is very low and clear, but is, I hear, full of small , fish. I am also informed that this river is being netted again, and it is a pity steps cannot bo taken to make an example of the poachers. The; Waikouaiti: Last week A. Prescott caught a fivepounder at the willows above Cherry Farm on the bully. It was a most perfect specimen of a sea-run trout. A. Galland landed a five-pounder at the willows' just above the traffic bridge; also a three-pounder and a two-pounder in the Elbow Pool. On Wednesday night Messrs Tompleton, Prescott, Cameron, Mrs Prescott, and the writer caught four fish in the vicinity of Cherry Farm." An esteemed correspondent writes: " There have been some fine days for flyfishing on the Mataura above Athol during tho past week, and careful casting gave good results. But on two occasions the river was completely spoiled for five or six hours by an inrush of mining sludge from claim?, farther up_ the river. This ought 'to bo stopped while the river is low, for not only does it put an _ end to fishing for tho .time being, but if it takes place frequently it lowers tho condition of the trout. and probably accounts for the fact that at present all trout over lib are far below tho standard of tho Mataura as judged by previous years. The. number of trout in tho river is very satisfactory, and although tho cricket is the most deadly lure, there is

no fear that any one who can cast a fly will fail to secure a fair basket with the bare fly when the water is clear. The fishing ie very interesting, and is most effective when done up stream." Southland fly-fishers have been doing well in the unper reaches of the Greta. Searun trout are still being taken by night anglers. ' \ Spearmen with torchlights are having good sport amongst, the eels in 'the Makarewa, some of these taken being of large Anglers camped at the Waiau have had a disappointing time of late. In consequence of the scarcity of feed the trout taken were in poor condition. "Red Spinner," Writing to the angling editor of the Southland Times, has sent the following interesting letter:—" Allow me to give you a rather peculiar happening during a recent fishing trip 'to Upper Mataura. Time and place—B.3o p.m., Parawa. A nice run of water hard against the rocks on one side; on the other a gravelly beach. In the centre a strip of foam-flecked water from Ift to 3ft wide—the feed-line. In the dusk this foam from time to time would be mottled by occasional dark rings, with a black dot in the centre Tho evening rise was on, and the trout were on the feed. Three or four makers of those same rings wero soon resting in my bag, the cause being in their eagerness to feed they had not the time to distinguish the artificial from the natural fly Hard against the bank, where the current struck the rocks, the water formed, as it were, a miniature bay before again getting into the straight. At the north and south ends of this eddies formed about 10ft apart and, being two choice spots, had been 'acquired, no doubt, by right of conquest, when might is right, by two good fish freely on the feed. On No. I, tho nearest to mo, I bestowed my first attention with the ""idea of when hooked of taking him down stream nnd landing him without disturbing his neighbour. I pricked him first cast, and he sank into oblivion. With No. 2 I had better luck. He rose to my first cast, I struck, and he was fast. Out into mid-stream and down towards the tail of the pool he rushed, and as I slowly reeled in I already counted him mine, and making up my dozen, putting him down as a three-pounder, the pick of tho basketMy attempt to net seemed to put fresh energy into the fish, and up stream he rushed right through the heavy water, trying to get back home. To get there he had to pass through the domain of No. 1, who evidently regarded him as having infringed his neutrality, for all at once my fish shot out into mid-stream, and I felt a jar on the lino as if it had been struck, and, peering' down into the water, I could see 'two shadowy forms struggling beneath. I thought it was an eel after my hooked fish, but as I gradually played him to a place whore I might land him, I could see that mv fish was beincr worried by a trout about 21b heavier. All at once tho larger fish made a rush, seized my fish above the tail, and-tried to shako it as a dog would a rabbit, both turning over and over in tho struggle, barely sft from where I was standing. I put- down the landing net and reached for my gaff, with the intention of having a say in the finish,_ but just at the critical moment the worrying my _ fish was subjected to, coupled with tho strain on tho 'tackle, was more than the fly could stand, and it gave way just as I made an ineffectual stroke with the gaff, and both sank slowly out of sight—and I only swore." Tho first quinnat salmon to b© caught by spinning bait at sea wag taken by Mr Jacobsen, an Oamaru deep-sea fisherman, while on his homeward trip. It weighed

101 b, and was a perfect specimen of quinnat (says the Oamaru Mail). Tho bait used was tho "stick" used by fishermen, a piece of wood lashed on tho inner side of a longshanked hook, and trailed behind the launch.