ANGLING

Southland Times, Issue 19389, 1 November 1924, Page 14 (Supplement)

ANGLING

(By

“Creel.”

Old Gentleman: “Why are you fishing, my boy ? Don't you know you ought to be at school?”

Small Boy: “There, now 1 I knew I’d forgotten something.”—Boston Transcript.

Climatic conditions for last week-end and Labour Day were decidedly on the boisterous side, more than a pocket-ful of wind being the order of the day. For the minnow fisher at times there was too much wind, rather an unsuual experience. For the fly fisher, unless he happened to be on a well sheltered stream, angling was of the most difficult order, the gale causing a most annoying “belly” in the line, which made “striking” a fish a decidedly awkward problem. I venture to predict that many a fish was lost owing to this particular trouble. Most of the rivers were in good order, carrying a fair amount of water, and trout are still reported to be fairly plentiful. The Makarewa was visited by numerous anglers, but results can only be classed

as disappointing, the river on Saturday and Sunday showing that annoying glassy mir-ror-like surface which seems to make fish shy on any stream. A few good trout were taken on the minnow, including a searun female fish weighing 71bs, caught by Mr O. Hobbs on a copperhead pattern. The Wyndham River for the past few weeks has been in excellent order, and anglers fishing this river have been rewarded with some fine baskets. Last Sunday, Mr J. Munro grassed 16 good fish on the fly, including two nice Rainbow trout. A heavy fish was fastened to for some considerable time, but, unfortunately, eventually was lost. The Mimihau is also returning some nice baskets to devotees whipping this popular stream, although the trout show a smaller average than was the custom a few years ago. Mr A. Aitken, on Sunday, killed 15 fish on the Red Waipahi fly, and Mr E. Duncan secured ten trout on Monday, when there was a cold southerly wind blowing. Fishing the Apferima river, in the vicinity of Fairfax, Mr Geo. Dennis secured about a dozen fish on the minnow, the take averaging about li-lbs. and the heaviest specimen weighing 3|lbs. On inspecting the Mataura river a few days ago, it was observed to be coming into its best form and good returns should be obtained in the near future. The more one sees of this river, the more it appeals as an ideal Atlantic Salmon stream.

Now, most of our local anglers will have noticed in their catch at various times that perhaps there is an odd fish of a deeper colour than its fellows, and perhaps have wondered at the why and wherefore. Again, most of the trout taken in the lower reaches of the Makarewa, Waikiwi and Waimatuku are of a salmon colour, while in the Lora, Otapiri, and Dunsdale, the three chief tributaries of the Makarewa, almost without exception the flesh is white; yet the explanation is comparatively simple, merely a matter of diet, for the fish in the lower waters depend chiefly on shrimps, while in the upper waters flies and perhaps bullies are what they depend on for their living. That dieting is the cause of this flesh coloration was proved beyond doubt by an experiment carried out at the Solway Fish Hatcheries, Scotland, some few years past. Two lots of yearling trout were placed in .separate ponds; one lot was fed on crustaceans (shrimps, prawns and crayfish) and the second on flies and fish meal. After a few months an examination was made, and the flesh of the former was, with’out exception, pink coloured, while that of the second lot was white. Now, would not feed account in the same degree for colour in the flesh of the quinnat? It may be that some of the run had been feeding for a time on whale feed, a small kind of crustacean, while others may have been following up the herring shoals and accordingly had only a fish diet.

We are apt to consider the pink flashed variety the better eating, but it is merely prejudice, for a fish from the Otapiri or Lora, though white fleshed, is in my opinion the more tasty of the two. Two years running, fishing in the head waters of the Otapiri, one of my fish on each occasion was quite pink, though a couple of dozen others were white. It puzzled me for some time till I remembered I had caught both fish out of the same pool, and into the head of this pool a small creeklet entered. Most of these small creeks are full of crayfish, crustacean feed. —“Red Spinner.” The following two additional returns for the Labour Day competions were received, but do not affect the results previously announced :

Mr R. Boyd, Limehills, 30 fish, weighing 171 b lOoz, heaviest fish 31b 12£ oz.

Mr David Dickson, Te Wae Wae, 7 fish, 131 b soz, heaviest fish 31b. Dear Creel, —Juts a few words wishing you “tight lines on many occasions.” Two or three years ago a motion was tabled at the local Acclimatisation Council that worm fishing be not allowed, but it lapsed for want of support. I must confess that I was against the motion. I argued that the boys start with a worm, and gradually work up, but since I have modified my views a bit. Our fishing is not what it ought to be, and I consider the worm fisher, or pot hunter, is taking too heavy a toll, and our rivers are consequently getting depleted. In other words, the demand is greater than the supply. I know of one case where a couple of anglers (God save the mark) boasted of having taken between seventy and eighty fish in one afternoon from the Otapiri with the creeper, and two boys accounted for nearly eighty fish in a day and a-half with worm in the Dunsdale. They use three worms at once, and God help the poor trout in the bottom of a pool when these are slung at him. I propose that on the Lora, Otapiri, and Dunsdale fly be the only legal bait. This would allow the Makarewa in time to be fairly well stocked, and so given a decent bit of fishing to town anglers, particularly those who have to depend on a push bike. I would like this debated at the next meeting of our Angling Club, and, if approved, passed on to the Council of the SA.S. to be given effect to. What say you? “Red Spinner.”

Commenting on “Red Spinner’s letter, “Creel” would like to say that for some time past he has consistently advocated the curtailment of “worm” fishing in Southland. The idea of starting a juvenile angler on the “worm” fishing basis is, in his opinion, a mistaken fallacy, and the “fly” should be the initial lure for a lad to experiment with. Teach him to cast at home on the lawn, explain the method of striking at the psychological moment, point out where on a river, under different climatic conditions, the trout are most likely to be lying. Drill into him that careful observation on a river is a tremendous asset; insti into his mind that it is essential at all tmes to keep his eyes on his flies. Fit him up with a couple of flies and a 1 or 2x cast, and let him “box on.” Of course, he’s going to lose a number of fish, but we all have to serve the apprenticeship stage. The writer can remember visiting the Otaria River some half dozen times after cycling up hill and down dale for 15 miles, for one solitary “sardine.” That was during the apprenticeship stage, and looking back after a good number of years, the hardship endured was worth the experience gained. Anglers, start your boys on the right track and teach them fly fishing.

“S(MtfE”FISHING.

“Saltwater Angling in South Africa” is the title of an interesting little book that has been kindly forwarded to me. The chapter called “The Man-eaters of Hermanns” deals with a form of big-game fishing that certainly provides the angler with all the delights and pleasure of a “dinkum go,” and which for excitement I imagine to be unsurpassed. The angler fishes from the rocks, his tackle including a strong bamboo rod, a great big reel holding 500 yards of fifteen-thread line, a hook large enough to take a bait weighing from six to ten pounds, and for float a petrol tin “filled with air pumped through a bicycle tube valve soldered into the top of the tin.” This air-tight float does much of the work of. playing the shark when hooked, but from the description given of a threehour fight, the angler also is kept fairly busy. He must constantly be moving, to save his line from being cut or broken on the rocks, and the most strenuous methods must be employed from start to finish. A photograph of a fisherman with a shark weighing 800 pounds, which has just been landed, gives a good idea of the size of the quarry, and there will be nobody to dispute the fact that it is “takeable.”

FLESH COLORATION IN SALMON AND TROUT.

Some years ago when the salmon canning industry was first started in America, only the so-called red fish, salmon-coloured, were in demand, and all the white fleshed variety was wasted, being considered not worth canning, and what was not thrown back into the water was dried for ( dog food. According to Dr Gunther, when the fish (quinnat) arrive in the lower reaches of the river, their flesh is as a rule of an intensely deep red salmon colour.” After the fish have been for some time in fresh water the flesh pales and becomes unfit for eating. In Sporting Life, Baillie-Grohman, the author’ disagrees with this, and states

there is a white and a red fleshed quinnat, and that it is only a stupid prejudice entertained by European customers who will persist in demanding the red fleshed variety. Some years ago, Mr T. Mowat, Inspector of Fisheries for British Columbia, sent a white and a red fleshed qunnat to Prof. Bard, of the Smthsonan Insttute at Washington. In an accompanying letter Mr Mowat explaned that the two fish were fair samples of the October run. “I found,” he continued, “on making an examination, that some of the run is pure white, some very pale pink, some a little darker pink, and others a full colour. I also find some of them white on the outside near the skin for about an inch in depth, then they gradually turn a pale pink, deepening in colour as the bone is reached.” Mr Mowat, in concluding his letter, stated that it was his belief, from careful examination, that the white and the red’ fish are one and the same species, and this was borne out by further investigations by the Smithsonian Institute.