NEW BOOKS

Southland Times, Issue 24650, 23 January 1942, Page 7

NEW BOOKS

ANGLER’S ART IN AUSTRALIA

CONCISE HANDBOOK OF AUSTRALIAN FISHING. By Taggerty. Robertson & Mullens, Limited, Melbourne. Price 1/6. (Reviewed by MATUKU)

The standard work on Australian angling is the late Mr R. L. Blackwood’s “The Quest of the Trout,” and this book is well and favourably known in New Zealand and abroad. The present work is, as the title indicates, a concise handbook of Australian fishing and the author gives a wealth of information in its 90 pages. He lays down certain fundamentals as a basis of fishing, and reading his experiences in Australia it is obvious that angling presents exactly the same problems in different countries. The advice given is quite sound and could well be applied in New Zealand. The author deals principally with Victoria and in addition to introduced fish deals with native fishes, which apparently provide a much larger proportion of the angling than is the case in New Zealand. The author deals with "sea fishing both off the rocks and beaches and by means of boats. This is a branch of angling which will in future no doubt be properly tried out and will provide sport in New Zealand. The author makes no pretence to be a “purist." Among other hints he describes how to establish and maintain a “wormery” so that when the dry weather comes on this very necessary bait will always be available to the angler. Another- favourite bait in Australia is “yabbies.” This is a mystery to New Zealanders but is apparently an insect highly thought of by the fish in Australia. The author recommends waders and gumboots principally as a protection against snakes and, except for this, advises wading without waterproofs. Another pest he warns against is leeches, and he describes how to deal with their bites.

The author is obviously fully conversant with local conditions in Victoria in all aspects and his book should be an invaluable guide to fishing there. He deals fully with streams and lakes and kinds of fish, baits and gear required. There is no similar handbook on New Zealand conditions, but in New Zealand conditions vary so greatly in the different localities that it would be impossible to compress a book on them into 90 pages.