ANGLING NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16905, 2 December 1922, Page 11

ANGLING NOTES.

BY IRON BLUE. '* SHOOTING THE LINE.” A correspondent, E.K.M., has been kind enough to wrifce me a very interesting letter, and he is also a beginner, and hath a good Scots name ; two facts which m the circumstances I find comforting. Among other things lie wishes to know if the expression ! ‘ shooting the line ” is the angling equivalent for “ drawing the longbow,” and I have often wondered, but at last 1 feel assured that it- is not. Neither is it a final act of justice, executed upon an erring piece of tackle, for refusing to catch a fish : nothing so drastic and inhuman. On the contrary, it is a ver •/ usefql device, which may enable the angler to get a fly to a trout rising beyond ordinary casting distance. At suen times it is usual to F.ee a great length of line waved backwards and forwards to gain sufficient impetus, until presently it is flung forcofullv out in trout, and generally the cast proves a failure. All this can be avoid ed, simply by. holding a coil or two of line loosely in the left hand, and allow, ing this extra length to shoot forward through the rings, at the moment when the cast is fully extended. The Aveight of line in front is enough to carry out the coils, and the needed yards can bo gained, with a precision Avell worth a little practice. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGOFROM “ LAXGDON’S REGISTER,” NOVEMBER 18. One must be in the fashion, and in another column you may see an extract from a “ Lyttelton Times ” dated 1872 j so even if we do not go back quite so far, still it is possible for us to recall old sporting records. It is interesting to compare thorn with the fishing of the present day, for they are perfectly authentic, and are taken from Langdoil’s Register.” If he did net know it personally, almost every New Zealand fisherman has heard of Langdon’s ” at Winchester, for at one time it was the resort of unconnte > anglers, from far or near; and as they returned from their daily expeditious tc the various waters, each catch was weighed and entered in the register, Avhich Avas kept by Mr A. id. Crosbie, a resident at ‘‘Langdon’s” until 190*2. Tiie entries for the last fortnight of November, 1897, rather curiously resemble those which might be made m the same circumstances, at the present moment, but I take them' as they are : * W&ihi River : H. M. Bambury, tw e. fish, total weight li-lb. Con Haar. ten fish. 51b. G. W. Alpe, seventeen fish, BMb. Opihi: H. Feilding, ten fish, I.Olb. A. Wigram, five fish, 2Rb. H. M. Bambury, two fish. Sib. G. Opie. nine fish, 91b.” These takes were made with fly. For baskets made by minnow men I turn a page, and find : ‘ Orari Ri\*er: G. W. Alpe. two fish. 31b. C. Opie five fish, 141 b. C. Denby, two fish, 21b. Rangitata : O. Denbv, four fish, 71b. G. Opie, three fish. 141 b. Note.—River full of bait.” Apparently the weather during this period was very rough and unfavourable, and a further extract from the register, at a later date, may lead us to a. different opinion of this old-time sport. THE MACKENZIE LAKES.

Since the opening of the lake fishing season on November 1. several parties have found good sport in the vicinity of Alexandrina, and upon other waters in the Mackenzie Country. This time, it was not Lake Alexandrina itself that gave the best fishing, but a small tributary creek—known as Scot's Greek—which enters at the northern extremity jOf the lake. n- is only a bit of a place, perhaps two yards across at fie* widest, but in the spawning season it is swarming Avith big trout, weighing anything up to twenty pounds, or more: and this year a large number oC~raiTrtTtfAvs oTfrrse to remain in tenancy, after all the rest had dropped back to their summer quarters in the lake. As a natural consequence, the majority of them have come down country, for they rose quite readily in the daytime to any big-sized fly; and even in a six-foot creek a sevenpounder can create a fuss. One angler landed ten of them, averaging about, that weight, in a morning and afternoon fishing. FLIES FOR DECEMBER. December is a month when the flybox should contain a fairly large number of different patterns, for the reason that many sorts of insects are now upon the wing, and it may happen the trout are iu pursuit of the one particular kind which is hatching at the moment. About six or seven verities of duns are now to be found upon the waters of our creeks and rivers; and, of course, each “dun” goes through a change into the “ spinner,” form, which is the final stage of their existence. Luckily, the difference between certain duns ami spinners is not so marked as to require a whole set of differently-tied copies. I know there are people who say this is necessary, but J venture to believe that it is not, and the artificials needed to represent them are the Blue Dun. August Dun, Sherry Spinner, Black Spinner, Rod Quill, an 1 light and dark Greenwells. Quite frequently, on creeks or small rivers, the angler will notice a bold, upright looking fly, floating thickly upon the current ; and even at a litt 1 - distance a canary-coloured spot show? plainly at the base of every Aving. This is a fly most fearfully named “ Coloburiscus humeralis,” but, for a successful imitation one has merelv to tie on a March Brown. Avith plenty of yellow twist on the body. December is “brown-beetle time.” s=to the Red Palmer and Cock-y-bondhu must certainly find places in the flvbox. with the Georgina. Red Governor. and some larve Coachmen £ar use during and after tbe evening rise.