Canterbury's Many Streams Provide Dominion's Best Angling.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18938, 7 December 1929, Page 29 (Supplement)

Canterbury 's Many Streams Provide Dominion's Best Angling.

Huge Bags Of Old Days Have Disappeared, But Good Sport Still Exists .

Trout And Salmon In Rivers In The Province Attract Overseas Visitors .

(JVritted for the “ Star ” by

PHANTOM.)

Except for the district round Lake r Taupo, no part of the Dominion offers ( better sport for the fisherman than i Canterbury. From the great, rushing I snow streams to the tiny creeks, each J water contains trout, and in the hills i there are many 'little lakes where the ' fighting rainbow have been liberated. f In the past, Canterbury had a repu- 5 tation which brought anglers from all < parts of the world, lured to New Zea- '<■ land by tales of fabulous fish in quan- i - tities never dreamed of in the Old Country. The days of the twenty- 1 pounder are gone, but in every stream « in the province good sport is still to be £ had. t Three kinds of fishing are offered to 1 the angler who selects Canterbury. I There are the snow rivers, the rain 1 rivers, and the lakes, each offering an 1 entirely different branch of the sport, 1 and calling for different tackle and ] methods. Rising in the mountains, the great * snow rivers of Canterbury sweep across ! the plains, changing their courses continually, frequently flooding, and containing so much of the sort of food that the trout likes best, that the fish \ in their waters have reached sizes to Astonish and delight the angler. Al- \ though they have fallen off a good deal . in the past two decades, these big streams still contain many fish, afford- , ing splendid sport to the fisherman who ‘ devotes his time to one of the various j forms of spinning. j Into these waters during the last ten . years have come the quinnat salmon, , growing to phenomenal sizes, and at- ( trading a very large number of fishermen to the rivers annually. There are very many men, and women, too, who confine their attentions to these fish alone, and consider that after the lordly quinnat, trout are small fry hardly worthy of notice. The best of all the snow rivers, in the past and at present, is the Rakaia£ which has yielded up more big bags of than any of the rivers of its type in the Dominion. Rising in the mountains, the Rakaia flows through the rugged back country, to emerge at a rocky gorge on to the plains. From the gorge to the mouth, the river takes up a bed from one to three miles wide, the main stream constantly scouring out new passages through the shingle, and for ever splitting into different tributaries and distributaries in its rush to the sea. Like all its kind, the Rakaia is subject to sudden and violent spates, so that a dear stream in the morning may be turned by mid-day into a rushing torrent, muddy and dangerous. In the spring, when the warm nor’-westers melt the winter’s snow off the mountains, the Rakaia is frequently flooded, and little fishing can be had above the mouth, but at the mouth, when countless millions of whitebait, silveries, and other small fish are coming i A from the sea for their march up the river, the big trout wait, gorging on the supply. Any kind of spinning bait, from natural bullies, alive or dead, to brightly coloured spoons are killing baits at the mouth of the Rakaia in spring, although luck must go with the fisherman in the matter of weather if he is to do any good. Like the rest of the river, the mouth of the Rakaia is constantly changing. Through the centuries the action of the tides and the strong waters of the river have built up a huge bank of shingle, which confines a lagoon. Out of this lagoon the water of the river runs in a short, swift dash to the sea, and it seldom runs out for two weeks on end in the same For fifty years the narrow mouth has been the haunt of fishermen, who, standing as near to the sea as possible, have thrown their lures out into the ocean, with varying success. Some of the bag caught in the 1891-92 season may be quoted. One was of eight fish, the smallest eight pounds and the two largest fourteen pounds each. Another was of thirteen fish weighing 147 pounds, the smallest eight pounds. These bags were not uncommon. The Rangitata, another typical snow

river, is the principal haunt of South Canterbury spinning men, and offers perhaps the best of the quinnat fishing. Even more swift than the Rakaia, the Rangitata also rises far back in the mountains, and is affected by nor’-west weather in the same manner as are its fellows. The Rangitata mouth is very similar to the Rakaia mouth, with the difference that there is no lagoon. Tide and river have here built up a twomile bank of shingle, at any point in which the river may find its way to the sea. Frequently the mouth will be at one end of this bank, while the river strikes it at the other. The water will then course along this shingle bank, parallel to the sea, offering a mile of perfect spinning water. At the actual mouth, a rushing race of water seldom more than fifty yards long, there is always good fishing in the spring, and when the quinnat are in the river there is no better stand. All the water there is may be covered by a good fisherman, who will have the feeling that he is fishing under the best conditions. The Rangitata, in its course across the plains, is twenty-five miles of roaring water, always changing, and rather too heavy for many trout. However, a crafty angler may get good fishing in the slack pools which sometimes are found, if he knows where to look. Under favourable weather conditions about the middle of the season, the gorge of the Rangitata offers what is some of the most sporting fly fishing in the province. Rather quieter here, the river is confined by rock and shingle walls, tearing rapids alternating with deep, slow pools. Along the edges of the pools, and sometimes in the rapids,

big trout are found, lying behind some I submerged boulder near the edge, feed- ! ing ravenously on the fly coming down. These big chaps when they are on the rise are a sure catch with a fly, and | when hooked give all the sport that can be desired. As soon as they feel they are hooked they make for the middle of the stream, and, with riie heavy water to help them, put up a noble fight for the fisherman with light tackle. The writer remembers finding the Rangitata in a good mood one bright mid-day about three years ago, when every 100 yards there was a feeding fish. The river was crystal clear, and to get within casting distance needed careful stalking. Two hours’ fishing saw three fish grassed, all within an ounce or two of five pounds, and none of them gave up without a struggle lasting the best part of twenty minutes. It is not often that the Rangitata can be found in a condition right for fly fishing, but when the trout are on the rise in the water along the gorge little better sport could be hoped for. As in all waters, big or little, the mouth of a side stream should be watched in the Rangitata. Manv creeks flow into the gorge from the hills, and at the junctions of these there are always trout. Although they do not compare with the fish in other rivers as far as condition is concerned, the trout in the gorge are fighters. At the mouth conditions are an exact counterpart of conditions at the Rakaia mouth. The enormous bags of big fish which were common at the end of last century are no longer to be had, but with luck the angler can have sport enough to satisfy his most ardent desires. The spring is the best time, when the run of trout from the sea is busy with the natural bait, and when the trout are beginning to slacken off, the salmon appear. Salmon may be caught in the Rangitata anywhere from the mouth to well up the gorge. All the water is easily accessible, and very heavy bags of salmon have been caught by following a run from the mouth up. The best of the river, apart from the mouth, is the

stretch from the Arundel traffic fridge up to Mount Peel, where there are always fine pools and runs no matter what changes take place m the river. From its source high up »n the mountains, to within a few miles of the sea, the Waimakarin is an exact counterpart of the Rakaia and the Rangitata. Leaving the confines of its gorge, it rushes out on to the plains, splitting up into an ever-changing number of smaller streams, and bearing down with it thousands of tons of shingle annually. A few miles bom the sea however, it changes its character, and becomes tidal, slow running, and full of wide deep holes. Near the mouth, some of the finest spinning and live bait fishing can be obtained under favourable conditions, and where any of the number of small streams enter the big river, there is invariably good fly fishing. The Waimak is another instance of the falling off in fishing, but although the monsters of earlier days are not frequent, a careful angler is still able to fill good baskets if he goes about it the right way. Handy to Christchurch, and with two popular week-end resprts on its banks, the Waimak would strike the casual observer as a haunt of a large number of fishermen and few fish. The number of rods on the Waimak near the mouth over a week-end is huge, it is true, but many of these fishermen are merely week-enders, who do not take a great interest in the art beyond dangling a bully in the water more as a matter of form than anything else. Very good fishing is to be had all the way from the mouth to above Coutts Island, the river, owing to the activities of man, being more or less confined to a definite course. Favourite places, where good bags of average fish are obtainable till about mid-season, are Dunn’s

Bank, Stewart’s Gully, and the big ■ ripple at White’s Bridge. In any of ; these places catches of seven or eight fish averaging round four pounds are frequently taken by anglers who know how to spin a live bait properly. When the salmon start to run in the Waimak, everything else is forgotten, , and hundreds of fishermen may be seen lined up along the banks tirelessly heaving in their spinners. Numerous boats also join in the rush, and propelled either by outboard motors or man-power, carelessly patrol the water near the mouth. Success varies amazingly. It not infrequently happens that two or three rods will bag ten fish among them in an afternoon, while the other hundred and fifty "look perishin’ pleased to look on.’’ On one occasion that the writer remembers well, seven were caught in a Sunday morning, and five of them were hooked by a woman who had never handled a rod of any sort before that day. The fish were taken from a boat trolling, and were the envy and dismay of fifty experienced anglers who were forced to watch j the whole operation. The Waiau is another of Canterbury’s snow-fed streams, but is not such a good river as the others. It is exactly the same in character as the others of its type, and will return good bags to a clever angler with a certain amount of local knowledge. If the Canterbury snow rivers in the early days, earned for New Zealand a great reputation among anglers the

world over, it is the rain rivers which now keep the province in favour. Nowhere in the world are such beautiful streams to be found in such numbers as they are in Canterbury, streams filled with fat, sporting fish, which respond well to the skill of the fly fisherman, and return good bags to the bully fisherman. Two types of rain river are met, each with its own charm. There are the bright, dancing streams of the type of the Opihi, like the great snow rivers, constantly changing their course, and offering the prettiest fly fishing ( obtainable. Then there are the slow, , winding streams, their deep pools overhung with willows and grasses, where big trout lurk in search of shrimp, and fly. Spinning experts have their day on the snow rivers, but the fly fisherman comes into his own on Canterbury’s many rain rivers. Chief of all the rain rivers is, of course, the Selwyn, a stream which, in the last four miles of its course, has probably yielded up more and bigger fish than any other four miles of river in the world. In the last three miles of i its course, the Selwyn is deep, weedy, ' and with practically no current, and is the home of an incredible number of brown trout running frequently up to fifteen pounds. Twelve pound fish in this part of the river are comparatively common, and fish of less than two pounds are rarely taken with the bully. Although in its upper reaches the Sel--1 wyn is a particularly pretty fly stream, : in the lower part where it joins Lake Ellesmere, it is fished, till February anyway, exclusively with the bully. It is a favourite place with Christchurch anglers, and annually returns a catch which may be measured in the aggregate in tons. The phenomenal number of trout taken annually in this part of the Selwyn are explained by the unsurpassed feeding ground afforded by Lake Ellesmere. Fish culturalists have established that the most favourable water for trout is one which partially dries in summer, leaving an extent of land, covered at other times of the year, to grow grass and other marginal herbage. This is exactly what happens at the

Lake every year, when thousands of ' acres of land are left bare by the re- I ceding Lake in the summer, to grow ] grasses and other plants in luxurious i profusion. Millions of trout, fattened i under these perfect conditions, annual- i ly ascend the river, following the 1 i hordes of smelts, silveries, and bullies that go up. Toward the end of the season, the 1 river becomes almost choked with weed, but in the clear channel in the centre, there is excellent fly fishing, which calls for all the expertness the angler is capable of if he is to land the fish he has hooked. So popular has the Lower Selwyn become as an allyear fishing resort, that the number of huts erected therg by anglers has grown almost to the dimensions of a town. Into the Lake, a number of smaller streams flow, all providing good sport with a bully for the first part of the season, and with a fly later. The Irwell is a good spot, the deep, winding stream holding many big fish, which require a certain skill to catch. The Kaituna is of a slightly different type, and contains more shingle than the other streams flowing into the Lake. It is more a fly stream, and good bags may be had with this type of fishing. Many streams like the Cam, the Main Drain, the Ohoka and the Eyre, flow in to the Waimak in its lower reaches, and in all of them there is very good fishing to be had. The Cam is typical of the deep, weedy, fly river, and along its short course provides same of the best fishing to be had in *he district. Many fishermen use a bully in the Cam, and some even offer the fish a bunch of worms.Jnit ' much better sport, and equally heavy • fish can be caught on a fly, either dry ! or wet. The best method is to use a dry fly during the day, and a large sunk fly at night, both methods returning good fishing to a careful angler. The Main Drain is full of small fish,

which provide splendid sport for a dry fly fisherman. The Drain is a very pretty little stream, flowing for a lew miles over shingle, with long ripples and slow pools. There is not a sufficient depth of water in the Drain to give cover for really large fish, but good bags of half-pounders may be caught, under the most delightful conditions for daylight fishing. A few miles further north is the Ashley, which from the Gorge to the mouth provides good sport with the fly. Tha Ashley is a patchy river, full of trout one season, and apparently barren the next. At the mouth, however, there are always fish, and some big ones are caught by bully fishermen. Another shingle stream, Ashley, is the prettiest water in North Canterbury, and attracts many anglers each year. For half a century, anglers have coma from England to New Zealand for the fishing in the South Canterbury district, the object of their trip being the Opihi and the Temuka. There is no prettier fiy water in the world than these two streams, which, rising in the hills, flow down to the sea over wide shingle beds, harbouring many trout up to four pounds which require all the skill of an expert to catch. The bright, crystal water of the Opihi, dancing over a hundred ripples, has a £harm which brings men across the world year after year. There are fewvery big fish in the upper reaches of the Opihi, but for the skilful fisherman there are many trout of about a pound to be had. The brightness of the stream makes the finest tackle necessary for daytime fishing, and it is during the day that the best of the ! fishing may be had. The writer re- . members four rods taking 109 fish over L a week-end in the Opihi in 1927, the , average working out at three-quarters ' of a pound. The biggest fish were two four-pounders, and provided thrilling sport in the swift water with light tackle.*

All over Canterbury there are dozens of small, bright streams offering great sport for the fly fisherman, and particularly the devotee of the floating fly. Almost every water has trout in it, most of them small in these small streams, but many big fish are to be found in the deeper holes. Rather inaccessible, the many lakes which nestle behind the foothills, all offer good sport. Some contain rainbow trout, great fighters, _ and others brown trout up to 181bs in weight. Lake Lyndon is a typical Canter* bury lake. It lies in the hills behind Springfield, and is 52 miles from Christchurch. Many anglers visit it during the early part of the season, when good bags can be had on the creeper or the fly. Most fishermen use a creeper, and find it most successfuL Many more small lakes lie in the hills, the best of which are Pearson and Stunner. Any of these lakes, however, are well worth a visit, but nearly all of them require camping. In a very large measure, the splendid fishing to be had about Canterbury is due to the activities of the rangers employed by the two Acclimatisation Societies controlling the district. Mid-Canterbury is looked after by Ranger J. Digby, head ranger for the Canterbury Society. He is tireless in his war on poachers, and finds time also to make the country round Lake Ellesmere one of the finest sporting areas in the Dominion. The northern rivers are in charge of Ranger Bearman, who during his service with the society has materially reduced the amount of illegal fishing in his district. He is constantly to be seen at all hours, patrolling his area. Mr J. Scott Main, veteran fisherman, is ranger to the South Canterbury Society, and is an unceasing worker for better fishing in the south of the province. The work of the ranger, who is too often regarded as a plague, is not appreciated to the full by the bulk of anglers. These men travel tens of thousands of miles annually in their patrol of the rivers, and in the meantime have to attend to the very many jobs, such as liberating fry, that the society demands of them.