FRESH WATER FISH.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 4774, 27 January 1887, Page 2

FRESH WATER FISH.

No district )3 much better provided with rivers than this part of tho colony, and in none probably has less been done to stock them with fish. Some have thought that our streams are too warm for trout, but this is by no means proved. Two attempts have been made to introduce trout, but apparently nothing has come of them as no fish are ever reported as havinp been seen. Is the local Acclimatisation Society still alive 'I No one has heard anything about it for a long time past, and if existent perhaps it has yielded to the lethargy that creeps over most things of the kind. There could hardly be a better trout stream than the Waipaoa, and though perhaps we have nothing suitable for aalinon, there is no reason why the next best fish should not be very plentiful. In the South trout abound, and hundreds, perhaps thousands, share in the quiet enjoyment of catching them. In the Otago lakes they attain the size of small salmon, and in the Avon, at Christchurch, one of the earliest rivers stocked, they are of enormous size. The inducements being so considerable, it is to be hoped that the Acclimatisation Society, if yet extant, will make further efforts to get trout ; and with an eye to their encouragement the following, by a recent visitor to Wellington, is given : — " The fish ponds of the Wellington and Wairarapa Acclimatisation Society have proved a great boon in stocking aud making valuable the rivers of those districts. The Manawatu rivers have also had a large number of young fish from theao ponds liberated in their waters. Trout lishing has now become one of the popular sports of the people settled within reach of the rivers, whilo large numbers from the towns avail themselves of the railway to run into the country for a few hours of quiet excitement in landing some of tho magnificent trout now to be caught in all the brooks and streams in that part of the island. Many different varieties of trout have been reared with success and are found to do extremely well and attain great size in our waters. A brown trout, suppesed to be five years old, and weighing 14lbs, was landed a few days since on the banks of the Wainui river, thus proving that there are* fish to be caught worthy of the most ambitious angler's time. In walking through the grounds tho fish are to be seen in the various ponds in all stages of development from the tiny sprat to the stately fellows of eight and ten pounds weight who swim along majestically or bask in the shade ever on the alert for a stray fly. In one pond a number of strong young salmon are to be found, and from these it is hoped that in a few years large numbers will be obtained for distribution to different parts of the colony. The work that tho Wel-lington-Masterton Acclimatisation Society is doing cannot be over- rated as it has been tho means of increasing the food supply of the inland settlers, besides giving another means of sport and rendering valuable the rivers that were previously devoid of fish." When shall we have 101 b trout here, or even fish half so big ? It seems that, as in so many other things, we are behind all other districts in the matter of having fresh water fish. Apathy and lethargy probabiy are the reasons, bub they should not continue to be so. Tho time has come when another efiort might well be made.