WHAT IS FAIR TACKLE?

Otago Witness, Issue 3802, 25 January 1927, Page 27

WHAT IS FAIR TACKLE?

FISHING ETHICS. ' MR ZANE GREY AS CRITIC. The impression that Zane Grey, in his book on New Zealand fishing, has been more of a critic than as exponent, is strengthened by the complaint of his countryman, Gouverneur Morris, concerning the lack of information on essential points (writes “Willing-to-Learn” in the Evening Post). "Zane Grey,” says Mr Morris, “told us in his book about the catching of fish, but nothing concerning when they were to be caught and how to get to the most suitable places.” Both as regards sea and freshwater fishing, Mr Grey seems to have talked more pertinently about other people’s tackle than about his own. The New Zealand tackle is in some respects too light, he complains, and the Tongariro tackle is too heavy. Anglers in New Zealand southern districts, who fish dry fly on an XXX cast, sometimes an XXXX cast, and who catch 51b fish therewith, are at once keen to know the actual character and strength of the cast (or “leader” or “trace,” as he might call . it) that Zane Grey used on the Tongariro, but in the pages of “Tales of the Angler’s Eldorado: New Zealand,” they will look in vain for the information. The soz or 6oz rod is mentioned; the cast is not specified A fisherman is not bound to show his own hand, to explain all his tricks, or to give details of his implements. But there is a moral obligation on him to do so if he erhphatically condemns the implements of others. One is rather forced to the conclusion that Mr Zane Grey’s vagueness on the subject of his own tackle is -due to omissions arising from the haste with which his notes were taken and the book, compiled. While his general picture of Nature and bird life in New Zealand is charming, various simple errors of fact indicate hasty observation and note-taking One prefers to think that many essential facts concerning his implements and methods were omitted by Mr Zane Grey because everything was done in a rush. In connection with his second, visit to New Zealand, there is opportunity to repair these omissions. New Zealand has many anglers who are willing to learn, including light rod and light tackle fly men. ready to sit at the feet of a better artist, if such he really is. There is a paragraph in Mr Zane Grey’s book that could fje read in two or three different ways: “I suppose many New Zealand anglers will inquire, as lam an advocate of the heaviest of specially made tackle for the great tiger fish of the sea, while I put such stress on the use of delicate and light tackle for these wonderful rainbows of the Tongariro. I suppose, at least I hope, the answer to that can be found in. the perusal of my story, material for which and the writing of which cost me so much labour and pains.” This is a shrewd paragraph. By putting his reader a riddle, the author seeks to convert his own position from one of defence to one of attack. The onus is put on the reader to read something or other into Zane Grey’s lines, instead of asking him why it is not there. Why does Zane Grey stress light tackle for the Tongariro rainbows? If the question were put concerning the use of XXX (or finer) casts for daytime flyfishing in clear-water streams big enough to carry 5 to 101 b trout, the answer would be that you cannot catch the fish unless you use casts reduced to a low degree of visibility. That is a reason of necessity, apart from ethics.

But apparently Mr Zane Grey means that at certain times —especially night time —the Tongariro rainbows can be taken on heavy casts or traces or leaders trailing a spoon or minnow or big fly, and that the strength of the outfit is such that it is no sport to haul in a rainbow in quick time, and to repeat the dose until lOOlb to 2001 b of fish is-on the bank or in the boat.

As this style of fishing is one with' which the. writer (and many others in New Zealand) is not familiar, it is difficult to

know in what way Mr Zane Grey’s ethical principle is to be applied. Is he prepared to suggest a standard angling outfit for use on the Tongariro in. its varying moods and conditions, day or night? And if standardisation is not practicable, is he prepared to offer even approximate guidance?

Presumably, the apparent anomaly of heavy tackle at sea and light tackle in the river is explainable as follows: A sharplystruck mouth-hooked trout does not fight at depth for hours, ‘ but a stomach-hooked swordfish does, and whereas the trout would escape to live, the swordfish would escape to die; wherefore it is better to have tackle strong enough to force the swordfish to the surface within a reasonable time for its happy despatch. This condensed answer to the riddle is framed after carefully reading Mr Zane Grey’s book, the reader having no other guide on the subject. He is compelled to take for granted the author’s statements that the swordfish, under the New Zealand drifting method of fishing, are often stomach-hooked, and that there are cases where the stomach has been pulled out of them.

But are Mr Zane Grey’s own sea fish never stomach-hooked? He relates remarkable cases in which the bait has had to Be left with them quite a long time, even when they are visible on the surface. Surely there ia still room to throw a great deal more useful light on this vexed subject.