TROUT LIFE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 13, 6 April 1927, Page 3

TROUT LIFE

THOROUGHBRED OF FISH SPAWNING HABITS In Ureal Britain they speak ot trout weighing 71b. or 81b. as “monsters”; a 61b. trout is “a lusty fellow”; flsh of 21b. or 31b. are regarded as “splendid”; those weighing 4oz. are spoken of as “beautiful fellows.” They are as molehills compared with New Zealand mountains. A trout was taken from Lake Taupo within recent years which weighed 27Jlb. This season' an angler landed one which turned the scales at 17£lb. Fish of from 81b. to 101 b. are so common as to raise no comment. Apart from salmon fishing, the chief sport of spring is trouting, and it appeals to a very large number of anglers. The trout (Salmo fario) itself needs no eulogy. Most beautiful of freshwater fish, built and designed on thoroughbred lines, elegantly proportioned, with grace and activity in every movement, and marbled and spotted with brown and black, and jewelled with crimson rubies, few denizens of our streams can compare with this sport-giving fish. To crown all his excellent virtues, he is of admirable epicurean qualities, especially if taken from a swift spring-fed stream. ONE OF NATURE’S MIRACLES. It is the winter—that one of Nature's miracles is being worked out, and the teed is being sown, the fruits of which the troutiest will hope to reap at some future day. The angler, visiting the scene of his endeavours where he cast his flies may note clouds of muddied water rising above the “redds” and drifting downstream. This denotes that the female trout is busy depositing her ova, the mud being stirred up as she works a depression in the gravel to receive the Jggs. The trout usually selects a place where the gravel is fine and clean. Here the female makes a hole in the gravel with her tail, striking vigorously a number of times, and sending up little clouds of mud. From „ime to time she turns on her side with a sort of flopping motion and deposits the spawn. During the operation the male keeps in close attendance, and does his part toward the fertilising of the eggs. The act of spawning may last from two to four days, according to water and weather conditions. When the process is completed, the “redd” may be seen in the form of a heap of gravel, something like a mole's hillock in shape. When the water is clear, it is interesting to watch the trout on the “redds,” where possible. The male seems to be very pugnacious at this time. No other trout must come near the lady he is in attendance upon. If an intruder does happen to venture too near, he will be instantly driven away. It is not unusual to observe a male trout ram or butt another rival. Many small trout and also adults which have still to spawn, may be observed lurking just below the “redds” ready to pick up any ova that remains uncovered by the gravel, or the unfertile eggs that are washed downstream. The spawn, too, is liable to despoliation by eels, rats, insects, and larvae.

GROWTH OF THE YOUNGSTERS When the spawning season approaches, the trout leave their hovers for the spawning beds, and not infrequently find their way up small, shallow creeks and tributaries, evincing something of the eagerness of the salmon and sea trout in their determination to overcome all obstacles in order to reach a suitable place. Even brooks that are dry in summer, but which contain sufficient water in winter to allow the fish to run up, will often harbour a few trout intent upon spawning. Where trout spawn in such water-courses there may be much loss, for it not infrequently happens that, when the small stream goes dry again in the following summer, hundreds of tiny fish are left to gasp out their lives on the pebbly bottom, unless rescued by keeper or river-watcher. Very heavy floods during the spawning period may also prove destructive. The time that the ova remains in the gravel varies from about 32 days to SO days, the period varying according to the temperature of the water When the alevins are hatched they come up through the gravel and, like the salmon, they have a “yolk sac” attached to their bodies which provides sufficient nourishment to last them until they can fend for themselves. Where good feeding is to he had, trout grow rapidly. A yearling may be six inches long or over, and when two years old a trout may be anything from eight inches to a foot long. The fry keep to the shallower waters until about a year old. when they fall back into the deeper parts.