BANK NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3584, 21 November 1922, Page 40

BANK NOTES.

COMPETITIONS. Following are the competitions fixed for this season by the Otago Anglers Association : Tomahawk Lagoon,'November 25. Tomahawk Lagoon, December 9. Cantonr Channel, January 20. Waikouaiti River, February 10. A number of anglers were out at Tomahawk Lagoon on Friday evening, but so far as I cat* hear none met with success. The lagoon has. however, yielded many good baskets 'since the opening of the season. One angler’s tally is 22 fish, many of them being good ones; and another on one occasion captured four fish, each weighing about 41b. A competition lakes place at the lagoon next Saturday, starting at 3 p.m and finishing at 10 p.m. the prizes are exceptionally good; and, though the entries were not numerous on Monday morning, it is confidently anticipated that the number of competitors will be large. The Shag River is reported to be low notwithstanding the recent rams and the weed is verv troublesome, such fish as hate been caught have been small. I happened to be in Palmerston on Saturday, anti as,,cd a resident if manv fish had been caugh . Jf i-[ "f. %; U MLilosh V a!: fc° r wi{h?n t & flown the river* it was '"•Hie Waikouaiti was looking 'vel l on Sai u rda v afternoon n. the lower reaches. Vhe tide was well in. but appearances ma> have been deceitful. q he Tokomairiro River (concerning which 1 ’pie ntv°of iiwa'iting the migim Tms d borne out by the fact that -ii i u. lss , l jt recently landed li nsli Ml ; D Ha-sctt /ev > oo( , c . ltob , UK | i weight „ o • . ul bc ons ciousness that, the l Xrv might be quite truthfully confirmed I^|la^Tbml.W, Tl'lu!;on n fiS^he 'rs (l WU inriudmgfivnvjniK ■V'l \ nrh. L reported to he full of fish. i, d Uis considered that the stream should de m good order after the recent fresh. V country correspondent, writes to say that Mr George Howat had a good day’s sport on the Ponuihaka recently, and secured a very decent bag of fish, one scaling 41b and the others from 3lb to b.

A well-known angler reports that there is good fishing to be obtained at Waitati. I had a note about his experiences before, and the opinion he then gave lias been now* eonfirmed by a subsequent visit to the stream. This angler was far up the river, near the “Forks,” but is evidently well satisfied with his day’s sport. It was about the middle of last week that the angler was on the Waitati. Good sport has been obtained on the Gatlins River recently. Mr M. lkirratt was down there recently for a stay and met with good sport. The river (presumably the Ovvaxa) was high all the time he was there, but in five days he caught 125 fish, in good condition, up to 41 b. The fish were taken on the fly (Greenwell’s Glory). Mr Barratt was going to the Fraser River ana I hope to hear of his doings there. J he result of the Oiago Anglers’ Association bare fly competition on the Waipahi River several days ago is that the winner is Mr E. Voight, with-33 fish weighing 221 b soz; Mr J. Clements coming second wit h 12 fish weighing 201 b 14ozs; Mr A. Murray caught 241 b 7ozs weight of fish, but being a previous winner be was handicapped to the extent of 331-3 per cent, and did not receive a place. There were 19 entries for the competition. Another competition was held on the Waipahi a couple of days later; open only to members of the Anglers’ Association. Mr J. H. Jones came first wit h 23 fish weighing 151 b 3oz ; Mr I . Ladewig second with 16 fish weighing 121 b 131ozs. and -Mr J. Morton third with 10 fish scaling 121 b lOozs. There were 14 entries. “Creel,” reporting in the Southland Times last Saturday, says:—“Tile Waiau, I understand, was again nothing startling in the way of results, although some odd good fish were captured. Mr Cut hill, -senior, and his two sons fished the Aparima at Fairfax and while the river was clear got some nice fish on the minnow, nothing heavier, I understand, than 21b. Their total catch was about a dozen fish. Mr G. Wishart, on Sunday, on the < freti above Wilson’s crossing, creeled nineteen good fiy fish averaging about three-quarters of a pound weight. He reports Love’s Lure as the best killing fly. Messrs T. W. Vickery, R. Kidd, and J. M'Ddnough and another rod “grassed” some 35 nice trout on the fly on the same liver. Female March Brown, Priest, and Red Waipahi were found to be effective flics. Mr H. Wilson, on the same river at the Iron Bridge got a good bag of 11 fish on the “Bully,” the heaviest weighing auout 61b. Mr E. Kea.sC, on the Waikiwi, with tile natural bait was rewarded with five good trout, the heaviest, I understand, weighing about 91b. Mr 11. Olsen, fishing the Makarewa with the minnow last Tuesday afternoon landed four good fish, the heaviest turning the scales at 51b. They were in splendid condition.” Last Sunday about 9.30 a.m. “Creel,” of the South Ia ml Times boarded a

nice car in company with three other congenial spirits, their objective being the banks of the Aparima River in the vicinity of Thornbury. On reaching the Aparima River, however, the anglers were greatly disappointed to observe the river was far too dirty for successful fly fishing. A consultation was held, and it was decided to make tracks for the Oreti River. The fish at the Oreti were observed to be rising freely to a black fly on the water, am! the various anglers were soon distributed along a likely looking stretch of water, all keen to creel as many as possible while the fish were on the “go.” And here I state that in this particular part of the river there seems to be plenty of fish. A Priest fly was tried on the tail by your humble servant and proved effective. For some little time small fish only were hooked, hut after about half an hour the better class of fish were moving, nice trout, half, three-quarters, and one pound in weight. Operations had commenced about one o’clock, and by half past three the Captain and “Creel” had a dozen nice fish in the bag, averaging about threequarters of a pound. One or two good fish about two or three pounds were hooker), hut were lost, one fish in particular, hooked by the writer, giving one of the best fights for freedom yet experienced by this angler. Ihe trout fishing season on the back country lakes of Canterbury opened with the beginning of November. Fishing has now commenced on the Lyndon, Grassmere, Hu rah Hawdon, Pearson, and Marymore lakes, and sport apparently is good. “The fish are taking the fly very well,” said a. well-known angler, who added that rainbow and brown trout were plentiful, the average weight of those caught being about 81b.