ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3860, 6 March 1928, Page 51

ANGLING.

By

Jock Scott.

To bo a perfect fisherman you requl» more excellencies than are usually to be found in such a email space as is allotted to a man’s carcass — Pabkbb Gilmoub. are invited to contribute items of local fishing news for insertion in thia column. For insertion in the ensuing issue they should reach Dunedin by Saturday night’s mail.

A local angler informs me that the Waipori River, which is giving good sport, dan be successfully fished at the present time with the Red Tipped Governor, the Dark Red Spinner, and the Silver Doctor. He also states that the Lee Stream is in good order, and the fish rising to the Red Tipped Governor, the Alexandra, and the Blue Upright flies. °

Mr Rex. Dunning, writing from Makarora House on February 20 with regard to angling in the locality, states:—“Messrs Gordon and Hartmann have been here for the last fortnight, and have secured some good bags. The fishing on the river has not been particularly good, although they secured some nice rainbow. Mr Hartmann in one afternoon landed three, weighing 1541 b. When the fish are hard to get in the river they take freely enough around the shores of the head of the lake One afternoon catch consisted of 11 fish, largest 71b. Another consisted of seven rainbow, averaging 51b each, and four Atlantic salmon, total 441 b. Another catch of seven trout aggregated 351 b, and six salmon were also caught: total 471 b. On one occasion the trout were rising all round us while we were fishing, and the seagulls were evidently feeding freely on some small fish. On cleaning the fish we found them to be full of small fish, very similar to whitebait as they run from the sea near the coast. I will be pleased if you can tell me what the small fish are. Now that the deer-stalking is at hand fishing will have to take a back seat until the. latter end of April. Some of your- readers may not be aware that the season for fishing does not finish until the end of May on Wanaka and its rivers, and the lake should be in great order for trolling in that month.”—[l am afraid I cannot say offhand what the small fish are.—J.S.] The Southland Times has the following note concerning the amalgamation scheme on foot: —“Members of the Southland Club will be pleased to note that the secretary, Mr Dunnage, has received advice from the Gore Angling Society to the effect that they have unanimously agreed to join with the other Southland clubs in the amalgamation scheme, and delegates have been appointed to attend the proposed meetings at Invercargill. Members of the Southland clubs are also invited to attend a field day arranged by the Gore Society to be held on the Waikaka River.”

“ Heckuin Beckum,” writing in a recent issue of the Southland Times, says:—“ A party of three Invercargill anglers who fished the Aparima about 10 miles above Rae’s Bush state that the river, and particularly the small tributaries, are full of brown trout fry and yearlings. This is evidently the result of the eyed ova which were planted, and which must have hatched out very well. The absence of heavy floods during the present season has no doubt given the young fish every chance to thrive and establish themselves. In the course of conversation with one of the party, Ranger Reid stated that the rainbow ova which were planted higher up the river has hatched out very well, and large numbers of rainbow fry are to be observed in all of the tributaries in which the ova was planted. It will be interesting to watch the development of this experiment with rainbow, as it is probably the first time in the history of New Zealand pisiculture that an attempt has been made to establish this variety in any river by planting eyed ova. The migratory instincts or habits may be overcome by allowing the fry to hatch out naturally from the gravel in which the ova is planted. Many attempts have been made by other societies (particularly the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society) to introduce rainbow into rivers, but not one of these appear to have been successful, and rainbow trout fishing in New Zealand is at present confined to lakes and a few comparatively short stretches of the rivers feeding or flowing out of them. It is a pity that the Government Fisheries Department has requested the S.A.S. to discontinue the stocking of Monowai with rainbow, as the fish were doing remarkably well, and the Waiau with its numerous tributaries and lakes is the one stream in Southland which is ideal for rainbow. These fish have not the same power of adapting themselves to every variety of water, and are more at home in lakes or rivers containing • a large volume of water. As a result of the day’s operations a dozen fish averaging between 21b and 31b were taken on the dry fly. Some of the fish were not in particularly good condition, probably owing to the very low state of the river. The fish in this river, as in most Southland rivers, are very particular about the right fly, and even when using the dry fly it is often necessary to make many changes before the best killing fly is found. It is a remarkable fact that during all the hot days we have experienced very few flies are to be observed on the water, and the flies that do appear occasionally are invariably of the very small variety which prove difficult to match. During the early part of the season, when the rivers were much higher and the weather cooler, the larger varieties of flies appeared to be more abundant than is the case at present. Some writers contend that the colour of the fly is of little importance so long as the correct size is selected, but a few days on almost any Southland stream would be sufficient to dispel this idea and prove that trout are endowed with much keener eyesight and powers of discriminating between different shades of colour than most anglers. Very often an artificial fly of the correct colour scheme will be found an effective killer, even when the' pattern differs. Mr J. Hunter secured nine fish from the Aparima at Fairfax on Sunday last. Most of the fish were taken on the Red Spinner. Another party of three Invercargill anglers who fished above the Thornbqry bridge landed 17 fish ranging up to 2Jib. The fish were

taken on the dry fly, and were in good condition, as the food is more abundant on this part of the river.” Fishermen throughout South Canterbury have been very busy of late, and are eager to make the most of the remaining season Some very good catches have been and there is every indication that the results of this year will be fully up to expectations. The Rangitata started to clear last week, and this is the first time the river, has been really fishable for over a fortnight. On Tuesday one angler landed five salmon in the estuary waters, and on Wednesday morning over 30 were landed. The biggest of these salmon turned the scales at 251 b, and the majority were about 141 b weight, although some were as small as 51b. There have been enormous runs of salmon for the past 10 days, and the first of the early runs have now penetrated as far as Mesopotamia. The trout fish to, in the Opibi has also been fairly good, end quite a number of fish between 121 b and 141 b have been landed while some anglers have been getting four and five fish from 41b up to 71b. One man, on a recent evening, got a basket of fish, the respective weights being 641 b, 101 b, 121 b, and 1441 b. The fly fishing has been fairly good throughout,’ and anglers who have been fishing during the e.venings up the Opnha have been getting some very nice baskets. The recent rains had the effect of causing the rivers to rise, bringing the mucli-nccded fresh, and this will probably also increase the catches when the waters go down to normal again. I The Temuka fishing of late has been somewhat poor, and the fish seem to have been off their feed Tho Pareora has also been practically unfishab'e, owing to the low water, together with the weed, which has been very bad. A visiting party of anglers which has been visiting Lake Alexandrina. in the Mackenzie, caught nine fish there during the last week, the fish ranging from 541 b to 121 b. These fish were practically all rainbow trout, and there is a splendid showing of fish ail round the edges of the lake just now. Fishing has been good at Hawea during last week. A party staying at Lake House has had excellent sport, grassing several fish averaging 61b. Dr M’Caw, of Invercargill, has been successful, catching some fine brown trout of good weight and condition and excellent fighting quality. Mr Mason had some exciting moments with a rainbow weighing 71b, a brown trout making several darts at his second fly while he was playing the hooked fish. With two well hooked the result would have been disastrous. Success at Hawea depends in part on some local knowledge, and Mr C. Capell is always very ready to advise his guests as to the time and place for the best results. The biggest run of quinnat salmon ever seen in the Waitaki River took place on Wednesday. The river appeared to be alive with fish. Another big run was observed on Thursday. Those anglers who have been fortunate enough to be on the river have secured splendid hauls. The quinnat are running a little earlier than last year. A Tiniaru angler told a Herald reporter that the Rangitata River had now cleared to a large extent, and salmon fishing was quite good. “ Some good catches were made on Thursday night,” he said, “ and on Thursday morning they were catching them in good style.” The smallest swordfish ever seen on Mercury Bay grounds was hooked by Mr S. M'Culloeh (remarks the Poverty Bay Herald), but after leaping several times it then threw the hook and escaped. Its weight was estimated at 751 b. Immediately the small swordfish got free a large fish’darted at the same bait, but this fish also escaped. ... . , The Waitaki Acclimatisation Society has received a communication from a Hastings resident stating that he has evolved a scheme for catching the whole of the eels in the rivers and streams of New Zealand, and converting them into profit as food. He is not prepared to disclose his scheme at present, but asks for the society’s support. The society decided that it would require more information upon the subject before committing itself.

Two black marlin, almost unknown in these waters, were sighted off Kokorua at the Wangamoa by a party of Nelson fishermen (reports the Evening 'Mail). One of the marlin leaped out of the water, and his weight was estimated at 6001 b. A whale also came in close about the same time, and the fishermen were able to get quite close to it. While fishing off Cape Brett, in the Bay of Islands, Mr Norman Branson, of Napier, was successful in capturing a swordfish weighing 2781 b (says the Daily Telegraph'll. A peculiar feature of the fishing in that vicinity recently has been a scarcity of kahuwai bait. It is hoped that a change of wind will have the desired effect of making the fish plentiful.

The possibility of a new deep-sea fishing ground being opened at Leigh is indicated by the fact that a large hammerhead shark was landed there recently (remarks the New Zealand Herald). The successful angler was Mr Gerald White, who caught the shark, weighing about 5001 b, on rod and line after a three hours’ struggle. This is the first big game fish caught at Leigh, which is a small landlocked harbour inside Cape Rodney and about halfway between Whangarei and Auckland. Now that the streams are so low it is a common sight to see black-backed seagulls and mollyhawks ranging the river beds in search of food (says the Taranaki News). These birds fly low over the water, and their sharp eyes quickly detect eels or trout in a dead or dying condition. These they seize with their powerful beaks and devour. Recently a black-backed gull was observed iu the Waiwakaiho river bed tackling an eel. The bird swooped into the shallow water, dragging out an eel over a foot in length, and flew to the top of a boulder' in midstream. Here the gull proceeded to kill its captive by beating it against the stone. Several times the eel wriggled free and slid back into the water, but the bird, with lightning stroke, retrieved its prey. Eventually the eel was despatched, tossed-into the air, caught, and swallowed. Judging by the number of gulls to be met with on the long, shallow stretches of the river beds, it would seem that considerable numbers of both eels and trout are dying owing to the warmth of the water.

A stranger from the sea jumped into a pool near where W. Stewart was fishing at Bondi recently. Mr Stewart tried to entangle it in the angle of the rod and A? e ’ . t its body was too slippery. About 4ft long, the strange fish had a prominent dorsal fin, which tapered to the tail, The mouth was capacious, and tho colour generally brown. A wave assisted the strange fish to escape from the pool.— Daily lelegraph.