ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3396, 16 April 1919, Page 46

ANGLING.

By Jock 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 carcase.— Parker Gilmour. Headers are invited to contribute items of local fishing news for insertion in this column. For insertion in the ensuing issue they should reaoh Dunedin by Monday night's mail.

BANK NOTES.

Tomahawk Lagoon.—Aa far as I can ascertain, few anglers have heen at the Tomahawk Lagoon and those who have been there have not done too well. Ota'go' Central. —There is evidently somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Fraser River a creek which is well supplied with trout. I have heard of it before, and now hear of it again, and I am told that some very fine baskets have been made on it, though the fish are not very large. Tho puzzle is to find out just where this piece of water is. When I discover it I shall feel like an under-sized Christopher Columbus, and I shall give my discovery to the world without knighthood and without even thanks. I know for a fact that one angler residing in the neighbourhood of Alexandra spent a day on this creek recently, and did very well. I understand that the Fraser River is in an improved condition owing to the rain that has fallen, but I cannot speak as to the fishing. The Shag River.—Mr W. E. Booth and Mr T. Long visited the Shag River in company a few days ago, and apparently had good sport and a happy, pleasant time on the upper reaches of the stream. (Everyone who has fished the Shag River knows full well that it is one of the most pleasant rivers to fish within the boundaries of Otago, and that even with a poor basket the angler meets with no exasperating obstructions in the water or on the land; unless it be from an irate farmer, who wants to reserve the water for himself and hia heirs for ever.) After that long parenthetical sentence, I will come back to Mr Booth and Mr Long. They were ako on the lower reaches of the river, and found a good deal of weed about that locality. Higher up the river they found matters vastly improved. * And what was even better, they found fish plentiful and taking well. That is proved by the fact that the two anglers caught 27 fish (irrespective of those they had to return to the water) of an average weight of lib. The combined basket was made between Glenpark (Crawford's of the past) and Dunback. One of tho anglers says that they saw hundreds of fish as heavy as 31b and 41b; but, he added, " they are very hard to catch." That I can easily understand, as I have stood for hours on the edge_ of Munro's pool, even with the fish rising, and failed to do very much good. That may have been due to a lack of skill on my part, but others belonging to my day had the. same experience. My informant in the present instance states that when he was there tire Shag was in very good order, and, considering intervening climatio conditions, it ought to be etill so. The basket of 27 fish was made principally with Greenwell's Glory and the red-tipped Governor, but Hardy's Favourite also proved the downfall of a fair number of fish. The latter fly was used by Mr Booth. Since writing the foregoing what I have said has been endorsed and emphasised. I am told that the Shag on Saturday was in splendid order for angling. To use the exact words of my informant, it was "In perfect condition for fishing." The weed has been practically removed from all parts of the stream. I hear at the last moment that Messrs A. F. Anderson and Hoffman made a basket of 20 fish for half a day's angling, using the red-tipped Governor.