ANGLING

Southland Times, Issue 22487, 24 November 1934, Page 9

ANGLING

(By

“Matuku.”)

Last week-end again provided fine weather for an enjoyable outing, but the fish proved diincult to catch. During the morning there was an excellent rise of small may flies on the Hedgehope and Makarewa. These flies had a dark wing and a red quill body and the trout rose greedily at them. They proved difficult to imitate with any of the usual artificials and only a very occasional fish was caught. Skilful anglers got two or three fish for a day’s fishing. It seems that local anglers depend too much on English patterns of dry flies. There is no English pattern usually on sale in Invercargill which closely imitates the fly which was on the water on Sunday, but the New Zealand tackle manufacturers could no doubt make a passable, imitation of same. The writer is under the impression that a “Pope’s Nondescript” is the nearest English imitation to the fly which appeared on the Hedgehope. However, this fly was not available in the fly book so it was not possible to put the matter to the test. The Aparima was carrying a slight fresh during last week-end and the wet fly accounted for moderate bags when fished by skilful anglers. Bags from the Aparima were generally light and a number of anglers had to be content with one or two fish. The Eastern District streams are getting very low but are well stocked. The weeds are growing rapidly in all the rain-fed streams and in another week or two fishing will be confined to casting in the channels between the weed banks. The Waipahi in particular is well stocked with large fish. It is, however, crystal clear and skilful angling is required to ,catch them. Last Sunday a few crickets were heard in the tussocks along the river bank. The land insects will soon be numerous and will make the trout less selective in choosing their food and more susceptible to a variety of anglers’ flies. The cricket is imitated by the Red-Tipped Governor of by an American Bi-visible. The Black Gnat is also successful during mid-summer being apparently taken for a blue-bottle fly. The Cochybondhu with a Peacock body fished dry imitates the Manuka beetle and is successful when this beetle is on the water. Last Sunday the fish were feeding exclusively on the small red-bodied May-fly, but later on when a variety of land insects is blown on to the water the trout take various flies and do not confine their food to the one fly. Reports from the Waikaia. River indicate that good bags are being got on this stream in the vicinity of Glenary Station. The Waikaia thereabouts is a beautiful fishing stream with open banks and ideal water for either wet or dry fly fishing. One angler got a 7-pounder there recently on the dry fly. Two or three miles above the Glenaray bridge there are beautiful picnicking and camping spots, situated in''open glades in the Waikaia Bush rivalling the Eglinton Valley in beauty. Fishing can also be got there, but the best fish is lower down in the vicinity of Glenaray and three or four miles down stream from the Glenaray Bridge. The Makarewa continues to provide good sport for the “bully” fisherman in the lower waters after dark. The fish are numerous, but do not seem to be so large as in previous years. They are, however, in excellent condition and give great sport when hooked. Some evenings a large fly is also very successful, fished, of course, after dark. The Oreti is in good fly order and fair bags of small fish are being caught on suitable days.

The Mataura is yielding good bags particularly to the exponents of the “Garden” fly. Enormous numbers of fish are being taken out of this stream with the worm and it is a question whether sooner or later this stream will not suffer the fate of all other streams in New Zealand. In all northern districts the societies have been obliged to limit or prohibit the worm (and in some cases the creeper) as a bait and it may be that the Southland Society will have to do the same, or stand by and see its fishing deteriorate from the excellent sport it is to-day. New Zealand is described as an angler’s paradise and we have acclimatization societies and angling clubs scattered up and down the country. It is strange that so far no organized attempt at casting competitions has been made .in New Zealand. In England and U.S.A. fly casting and bait casting competitions are held regularly and it is to these competitions that we owe the great imnrovements in rods and lines during the last 25 years. A recent ■writer in an English periodical points out the benefits of these tournaments and points out that by taking part in same and getting suitable rods and lines he increased the length of his cast with a salmon fly rod from 25 to 30 yards to 44 to 46 yards. A few years ago a cast of 40 yards with a salmon fly rod was generally a winner. Now a man has to cast 44 to 46 yards to have any hope of winning, and in a few years casts of 50 yards will be seen. A man or lady with a 9-foot trout rod weighing soz can now cast regularly 28 to 30 yards. Messrs Hardy Bros, and Messrs Farlow took a great interest in the casting tournaments and built special rods ana lines for competitors. Hardy s Filip is the result of experience got from casting tournaments. This line is tapered towards both ends with the heaviest weight of the line nearest the fly. It is claimed that these lines cast ana “shoot” beautifully so that a long cast can be got. , It is claimed by critics that the rods and lines which win these tournaments are “special” rods and are not suitable for every-day fishing. Similarly, we may say that the car which, wins a Tourist Trophy race is not suitable for a touring car. But we should never have seen our touring cars attain their present perfection and speed without the influence of racing. So with our fishing rods. Tournaments have eliminitated the unfit and have improved rods as nothing else could have done. The scientist, in the person of Professor Borchgrevink, of Norway, has also gone into the mathematics of casting He explains that the forces which stop the line in its passage through the air are air resistance and friction. It follows that the smaller the entrance a line has in coming forward the. less the resistance.' In order to obtain a small entrance the line should point horizontally backwards at the when the forward cast is made. If the •fine is allowed to fall below the honzontal a belly will be formed when .the forward cast "is made and the resistance is thereby incr ?^ ed r en °U?^ 1 n y ’ This full extension of the line horizontally on the back cast is most important and to obtain it, timing to a fraction of a second is necessary. The Americans have also very expert fly casters and like, their golfers they probably excell in this sport. A cast of 39 yards is claimed by an. American with a nine foot fly rod. It is stated that American, and particularly, Californian, competitors competing in Eng lish and French tournaments find their casts considerably shortened. This is attributed to the heavier and damper atmosphere in Europe. The above casts were carefully checked and it would beinterestmgu our local experts would try themselves out against these records. . , ■ A further argument against casting tournaments is that they do not produce better anglers.' This is not cor “ rect, although the winner of the tournament may not be the most successful angler, as there is more in angling than casting. However, every angler whether skilful or not who improves his skill bv practice at casting tournaments will almost certainly find that his catch on the river will be increased by his improved casting. I It would be most interesting if our

local angling clubs would put on a casting tournament and see how the prize winners’ length of cast compared with the English and American experts.