TROUT FISHING IN OTAGO.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue XVIII, 1 November 1902, Page 1116

TROUT FISHING IN OTAGO.

By

ROBERT CHISHOLM

(Vice-President Otago Acclimatisation Society.)

The province of Otago is essentially Scotch, and its hills and dales, its streams' and burn v s reminded its earlier 1 settlers of similar features in the land that gave them birth, “Land of brown heath and shaErv wood: Land of the mountain and the flood.” but the similarity to “bonny Scotland” was far from complete, while, the trout and other fish that besport themselves in the delightful calm of the summer eve, and which in byegone days had provided them with the best of sport, were unknown in the waters of their adopted home. The keener sportsmen, under the patronage of Sir George Grey, the then Governor- of the colony, with commendable foresight, formed themselves into an association which had as one of its objects the stocking of the rivers and streams of the province with the varieties of fish that would

afford the best sport to the disciples of Izaak Walton. The provincial Government, ready to give every assistance, granted the society the land now known as the Botanic Gardens, and on that site the society formed its depot. The Opoho breeding ponds were afterwards constructed, and the initial steps taken to introduce salmon and trout. Forty yeans ago the ship Norfolk arrived at Melbourne, and had on board three hundred brown trout ova. The bulk of these were hatched in* Tasmania, and Mr Clifford, the manager of the Otago society's breeding ponds, was specially despatched to Tasmania, and brought back eight hundred trout ova, most of which were successfully hatched in the Opoho breeding ponds, and the fry liberated in the following breeding streams: — 53 into Dr. Webster's pond, Kakanui.

53 into Mr Young’s mill race, Palmerston. 48 into Mr Fenwick’s pond, Island stream. 62 into the Tokomairiro pond. 61 into the Waikouaiti River. 57 into the Waitoti River. 53 into* the Silverstream. A second shipment of a thousand brown trout ova was brought from Tasmania, end the fry were liberated in the following slreamis: 75 into the Water of Leith. 40 into the waterworks reservoir. 101 into the Otepono River. 100 into Deep stream. 80 into Boat Harbour Creek. 76 into Fulton’s Creek. 75 into the Shag- River. 89 into the Lee stream. 51 into Kilmog CreeK. The Otago Society also sent fry to be liberated in the Canterbury and in the Southland streams. Anxiety as to the fate of the fry was soon relieved by the appearance of thriv-

ing healthy fry, and before long a seven inch front was caught in the Shag River. During the spawning season, in July and August, the fish in shoals, then as now, left the deeper waters, and ascending the rivers and their tributaries as far as they could, “on the level reach, with a run of water so shallow that their back, fins and tails were often seen protruding, they commenced to bore amongst the gravel with their snouts, and slashing it with their tails, until in a short time, with the assistance 'of the current, they succeeded in making a redd or furrow, in which the female deposited her eggs, which were subsequently fertilised by the male swimming over the redd and ejecting the milt, which was brought into contact with them in the water.” The virgin waters of the.se streams had plenty of feed, and the growth of the fish was rapid and phenomenal.

two of these eaught just five years after being liberated as fry turned the scale at 141bs and 16Jlbs respectively, and are now to be seen preserved in the Dunedin Museum. At the insti-

gation of the society, the Superintendent of Otago declared the streams in which the fry had been liberated in 1869 and 1870 open for fishing with rod and line. Licenses were issued, rods and reels and lines put in order, and before daylight on the first morning of December, 1874, the enthusiastic an"rlers were on the banks of the various streams ready to commence operations at the first streak

of dawn; and between three and four o'clock on that morning, Mr A. C. Begg, of Dunedin, landed the first

trout caught with rod and line in New Zealand, from the Water of Leith. The feelings of an enthusiastic angler waiting for daybreak on that eventful morning have been given expression to as follows: “By heavens he is fishing with fly! and the Fates, grim and grisly as they are painted to be by full-grown, ungrateful poets, smile like angels upon the paddler in the stream, winnowing the air with their wings info western breezes, while at a careful east the silvery trout forsakes his fastness beneath the big flat stone, and with a rug and tug, and then a sudden plunge, and then a race like lightning, changes the man into an angler, and shoots through his thrilling and aching heart the ecstasy of

a new life expanding in that glorious pastime, even as a rainbow on a sudden brightens up the sky. After careful play he lauds a twelve ineher on the smooth stones of the only place in the stream where sueh an exploit was possible, and darting upon him, like an osprey, soars up with him in his talons to the bank, breaking his line as he hurries off to a place of safety a respectable distance from the stream, and flinging him down on the green grass lets him bounce about till he is tired and lies - gasping with unfrequent and feeble motions, bright and beautiful and glorious with all his yellow light and silvery lustre, spotted, speckled, and starred in his scaly splendour before the rising sun that never shone before so dazzlingly.” In the Water of Leith, and in the other streams, fish weighing from half a pound to 131bs were soon plentiful, and one angler, illustrating, to which the trout he had taken had grown, excited the incredulity of his brother angler, as shown in our illustrations. The society, assured of its success as only anglers can do, the length in stocking the rivers with trout, had already given attention to introducing the salmon. With the generous assistance of the Government, salmon ova had been imported from Home, and the fry liberated in the rivers and streams. Little success seemed to attend the attempt until in 1897 a fish of eight or nine pounds, caught in a fisherman’s net outside Oamaru harbour, was sent Home, and was pronounced by the authorities at theßritish Museum bo be a true typical salmon. Encouraged by this, the society made large importations of salmon ova in 1898, and since that year has continued importing ova, and liberating the young salmon, and Baron Bultzingslomens, writing to the society with reference to a fish he had taken from the Waiau, says: “The main object of these lines is to tell you that one of the 41b fish was a true grilse, and not a trout. I am too old a fisherman, and have landed too many hundreds of grilse and salmon, not to know the difference between a grilse and any kind of trout. There is to me not a shadow of doubt about the fish being a true grilse.”

The hatching ponds of th* Otago Acclimatisation Society at Clinton, as shown in our illustrations, are very complete. They include hatcli-

ing ponds for salmon, American brook trout, Rainbow trout, Loch 1-evcn trout, Scotch burn trout, avaries cookhouse, ami maggot boxes. The Acclimatisation Society’s manager, Mr F. Deans, is in charge of the hatchery, and has done good work in connection with the acclimatisation ot fish in New Zealand. In March last the stock in the ponds of the Clinton Hatchery was —

English salmon—l 64. aged. English salmon—2oo, 4 years old. English salmon—soo, 1 year old. English salmon—4ooo, fry. Scotch burn trout —100, various sizes. Loch Leven trout—3so, 4 years old and upwards. Loch Leven trout—lo,ooo, fry. American brook trout—2s, various sta es. Rainbow trout —200, 6 years old. Rainbow trout—2ooo yearlings. Tench—6.

In addition to the stock in the Clinton Hatchery, there were also more than 20,000, chiefly fry, in the hatchery at Opoho. Since 1869 the society has liberated in the rivers ami streams of Otago and Southland very large numbers of the different varieties of trout, including sea trout, salmon, American white fish, perch, etc. Every river and stream in Otago mud Sn (Southland now teems with weil grown fish of all kinds, that delight the angler. So long ago as 1890 a 2411 b trout was taken up in a bucket of a dredge at work on the south branch of the Tokomairiro River; while quite recently a 321 b trout was taken in the VVaiwera River. Illustrations of both fish are given in this issue. The worra-renown-ed cold lakes of Otago teem with trout up to 301bs weight, and, contrary to the opinion formerly held, they have been, and may be, taken with the fly. For many years the society has conducted a fly fishing competition each year, for which it awards a gold medal to the most successful angler the Waipihi River. During the last five years the awards have been as follow: —

At the same competition the society also awards a silver medal to the second most successful angler, and the awards for this medal have been:—

Year. Angler. No. Trout. Weight. 1897 J. R. Smith 25 31A1OS 1898 G. S. Valentine i 171b 607 1899 P. Murray 16 291b 8oz 1300 D. Mill. jun. 47 361bs 1901 R. Spiers 10 321 bs

Year. Angler. No. Fish. Weight. 1897 J. Spiers 21 221b Ooz 1S9S D. Melrose 3 121b Soz 1899 D. Mill, jun 30 251b loz 1900 P. Murray 15 271b Ooz 1901 P. Murray, jn. 45 281b Soz During’ the year 1901 the ti shing licenses issued by the society were: — Men .. 435 Buys .. 103 Ladies 41 Half-yearly ... 89 59 (To be continued.)