Good Angling At Easter Week-end

Southland Times, Issue 23793, 15 April 1939, Page 15

Good Angling At Easter Week-end

•By

MATUKU

During the Easter holidays all the Southland streams were low and clear and anglers had good sport. A visit to several streams proved the diversity of the problems necessitating study by the successful angler. On the Aparima, below Thornbury in the morning the water was calm and clear and there was a good rise at the dry fly. Two fish of 2Jlb were bagged and others failed to hook. About midday a cold westerly wind sprang up and fish stopped rising and' were difficult to catch. Towards dusk there was a good rise and more fish up to 3Jlb were landed on the dry fly. On Easter Monday the Aparima was again visited near Fairfax. The trout were nymphing along the edges in the shallows and were hard to catch. There was an excellent evening rise and two of up to 31b were caught on the dry fly. In the twilight a wet fly fished down stream accounted for three fish of up to Ijlb. On Tuesday morning the trout were again busy nymphing along the edges in the shallows. Several fish from lib to 211 b were seen in two or three inches of water, indicating that the Aparima is well stocked.. Another unusual experience on the Aparima on Tuesday was the sight of the tail of a big trout protruding above the surface in the ripples as he fed with his head down to the bottom among the stones. Several of these fish, 31b or more, provided a problem still unsolved as far as “Matuku” is concerned. THE WAIMATUKU On the way home across the Waimatuku stream on Tuesday afternoon a stop was made at Isla Bank. A walk upstream revealed a couple of fish busily feeding in the first pool. The rod was quickly mounted and several dry flies were tried unsuccessfully. A Halford’s Red Spinner at last solved the problem and in two hours half a dozen fish from lib to 111 b were creeled. These fish were almost all the same size, and no smaller or bigger fish were caught. In every pool four or five fish were feeding and as far as could be seen they were all fish of this size. This raises the question whether these fish are the result of the stocking by the Acclimatization Society some three or four years ago—these fish would apparently be three or four years old. Another interesting observation on these fish is that they were much nearer to spawning than fish from the Aparima or other streams. It seems that the Waimatuku fish must spawn early because the high temperature of the water. There was much insect life on the Waimatuku on Tuesday evening and the trout should- have no shortage of insect food. There is a general impression among anglers that the Waimatuku contains no fish this season, but this experience shows that this is not correct. It will be interesting to see if the Waimatuku regains next season its popularity as a fishing stream.

A visit to the Waiau at Easter showed that it is past its best so late in the season. Two days were spent in the vicinity of Clifden but there was no rise of brown or rainbow trout during the daytime. Apparently earlier in the season these fish rise principally at manuka beetles, crickets and other land insects. At this season these insects have disappeared for another year. The temperature of the Waiau does not promote prolific hatches of aquatic insects, as in streams such as the Aparima or Mataura. A few brown trout were caught on the dry fly by fishing blind, but this fishing was hard and not very interesting. Fishing with the wet fly produced a number of rainbow trout

running from nine inches to 41b. It is apparent that the Waiau is now thoroughly stocked with rainbow and that these 'fish are permanently acclimatized there. It is interesting to note how the brown trout are caught by one method of fishing and the rainbows by another. During Easter it was found that the brown trout were caught by the dry fly; on the other hand the wet fly resulted in rainbow trout only. It appears that the chances of sport are greatly increased by the presence of both varieties of fish in the Waiau.