TROUT FISHING AT LAKE TAUPO

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 18, 4 May 1907, Page 35

TROUT FISHING AT LAKE TAUPO

SOME RECORD CATCHES

Mr A. G. Campbell, a well-known English angler, made ->>tn e extraordinary catches recently in the Tonga riro (otherwise the Upper Waikato) .at Tokaanu, and his feats aroused the interest of fishermen all over the colony. Mr Campbell is one of the most modest, as well as most skilful, disciples of Isaac M alton, and it is almost impossible to get him to speak for the purpose of publication about his own feats, though about his favourite sport, angling, he has plenty to say. To ascertain th? really remarkable character of Mr Campbell’s fishing and its results It is necessary to ir»et men like Mr It. A. Warden (of Sydney), who was fishing with him, says the "Times” of Wellington. One of Mr Campbell’s catches on a recent night at Tokaanu amounted to twenty-two fish, which weighed 2301 b, and on another evening a catch of twelve fish, which averaged 141 b each. These were mostly caught with the minnow, a light "Phantom” or salmon fly being used when the fish were feeding near the surface, and a fair sized “Devon” when they were lying low on the bottom of the deep pools. Mr Campbell —who has fished in nearly all the famous fishing resorts of the world and has been in New Zealand before —in the time when he was at Tokaanu made a close study of the swift rushing Tongariro where it nears the lake, racing over broad stretches of shingle, sometimes in shallow rapids, sometimes in deep pools. He learned the habits of the fish thoroughly, and was able to tel! when he went into the river in the evening—for nearly all his fishing was done at night—just the particular wile to use to tempt the monsters working their way from the lake up to the spawning grounds. For it was big fish that Mr Campbbell was seeking. And there are said to be fish up to -50 lb in weight in Lake Taupo. Mr Campbell himself got them up to 2341 b. One weighing 23ilb that he secured was got with the fly, and is -said to be the biggest trout ever caught with the fiy anywhere in the world. In order to secure these monsters, Mr Campbell practically took his life in his hands on more than one occasion. This is the story of his companions—not of himself. He wore waders up to his armpits, and waded out into the rushing waters as far as they would let him. On one occasion the snow-fed stream carried him completely off his feet. It was only by thrusting the butt of his rod into shingle that he was enabled to save himself from a situation which, in his heavily accoutred condition, would have been very dangerous. AS BIG AS SALMON. Mr Campbell likes New Zealand. “I never struck a place I like better,’' he said. ‘■The trout fishing in many cf your rivers is more like the saimon fishing at Home, and I have known learned professors who could not identify your brown trout, so wonderfully have those fish changed.” Do you think our trout will always be big? “I expect not. It often happens that when a river or lake is first stocked with trout, the first generation or two attain prodigious size, on account of the abundance of food and the absence of enemies. In the rivers at Home, where the trout are mature, you can understand that there are many enemies which prey upon them. One of the principal foes which the trout in most parts of New Zealand have to contend with is the eel, but, for some mysterious reason, the big eels which penetrate to the upper waters of most of the rivers in the colony, only run a short distance up the Waikato, and. consequently, in the Rotorua and Taupo districts they have no enemy worse than the shag. This bird would not be a very great nuisance if he took only the big old fish, which invariably become cannibalistic in their habits. But he prefers the young and »uc-

culeut. At present, however, a reduction in the numbers of trout in that district would not be detrimental, for the fish are increasing far faster than the anglers can catch them. But in future years their depredations may possibly become serious." Have you notic'd the tendency to overstocking in some places? "Xes. In Lake Rotorua particularly the evil effects are becoming apparent, and also, to a lesser degree, in the River Waikato, below the Aratiatia rapids.” A SERIOUS MISTAKE. Mr Campbell regrets the introduction of rainbow trout to the Tongariro River. “That river,” he said, “ is now. I believe, the finest brown trout river in the world. But I’m afraid the rainbow trout will change that, and supplant the brown trout. The latter spawns early in the season, and when the rainbow goes up to spawn later on it feeds on the spawn of the brown trout. It is also more pugnacious. Thus, where the waters equally suit both, the rainbow trout- gets the upper hand. It was. therefore, a pity that the one river that was unique for its brown trout was not kept as such.” The brown trout is more numerous in the South? “Yes. It succeeds well in the cold rivers, where the rainbow trout does not thrive. But nearly all the North Island waters suit the rainbow. In the Ton gariro River, where the rainbow trout first appeared two years ago, it has not yet become very numerous. Out of over three hundred fish which I caught, only about half a dozen were rainbows. However, as Lake Taupo is much deeper and colder than Rotorua the brown trout may perhaps manage to hold its own.” A WORD ON BAITS. “The rainbow trout—which originally came from California —is generally supposed tn be the more sporting fish of the two, not only because of its strength, but also because it may b? caught in the day time, while the big brown trout will only feed at night. One very satisfactory discovery with the brown trout in the Tongariro River is that they take a salmon fly very well. One of my biggest trout, weighing 23Jlbs, was taken on a salmon fly. Personally I have no violent predcliction for the fly. especially when of a large size, but there are many people who will not, or cannot, fish with anything else. The things, however, that I am calling ‘flies’ might more aptly be described as ‘chicken,’ for they are feathered monstrosities aleiut three inches long, and there is no doubt at al! that the trout does not take them for insects but for minnows or crayfish, or something of that cort. The majority of my fish were caught with a dark coloured phantom minnow made out of the coccoon that is to be found hanging from the manuka trees all over NewZealand. You have to vary the size and shade and the depth to which it is to sink according to the particular light and wind and temperature prevailing. That can only l»e found out by experience. PLAYING THE FISH. “The brown trout appear not to have quite the ‘staying power’ of the rainbow. and they also vary tremendously in the amount of sport they afford on different nights. Sometimes every fish will be playing magnificently, and on another night, or later in the same night, there will scarcely lie a ‘kick’ in them. Then again they will change their tactics, and one has the greatest difficulty to prevent them from breaking the line with the wildness of their leaps and lushes. A rainbow trout, on the other hand, will always play himself to a standstill, although his first few runs are scarcely as wild as those of the big brown trout. As far as eating goes.

there is not much to choose bet ween them. The brown trout are better compared with the salmon at Home. The salmon is bigger and more stubborn, but does not give such a wild tight as these do at their best. The salmon, however, will take fly or bait at any time of the day. It is the most serious drawback of the brown trout in New Zealand that I believe nobody has yet succeeded in catching one of the really big ones, except at night. One of the b ~t New Zealand fighting fish, perhaps, even strong

er than a trout is the kahawai, which runs a few miles up to fresh water here. It is the strongest fish for its size that I ever met, though perhaps the makseer of India and Burmah will run it pretty closelv.”

“ I found that the fish on the Tongariro river averaged about Illis, each, and about one in every twenty or thirty would weigh 20!l>s. cr Over. I have had six fish in one night averaging 17bs. each, and on another occasion twelve averaging Ulbs. each. This is larger than anything to be got in the South Island. and probably larger than any brown trout to be obtained in any other river in the world. I believe there is one place in Finland, where they get some very big ones by trolling in a highly preserved water, at the outL t of a lake, but the number caught is idatively small. In most livers in England a 31b. trout is a sort of thing a man wants to go and have stuffed, and there are many streams where a hilt"pound trout is considered a great prize. It is on record that one of 21'lbs. was once killed on a night line on a lx!i in the North of Scotland, but 1211>s. or 141bs. is usually the limit even in the large lochs. In Lake Taupo this year rainbow trout have, been caught up to ISlbs.. and they were only introduced four years ago. It docs not seem possible that they can have got up past the Huka falls in earlier years, and this must consequently be taken as an example of the phenomenal growth which a trout may attain under favourable conditions. The only other explanation is that perhaps there was a little rainbow spawn among the ova of the earlier brown trout had not been introduced at- all into New Zealand at the time the ova for Lake Taupo were obtained from the Masterton fish ponds.’’ DANGER FROM OVERSTOCKING. To Mr. Campbell’s mind the greatest danger of the future is overstocking. He does not think rod fishing will ever be suil.cieut to keep down the numbers, and believes it a great mistake to limit the number or weight of fish a man may tike with the rod except in the neighbourhood of large towns. He advocates the restricted use of nets in those places where ovestoeking is rile. This, bo says, would be better than rod fishing, because if the decrease depends entirely on the rod, then in time to come a generation of trout will be developed that bis descended from fish that have systematically avoided the angler, and the habit of refusing the angler’s bait, will become hereditary. A NIGHT OUT. “ The love for night fishing." he said, is essentially an acquired taste. Until yon get instinctively to know exactly what you are doing in the dark, it is perfect misery. You get away in the bush, and you never know if you are going to tin I your way back again. For the first few days you have to depend entirely on the old crock of a horse you may manage to raise from the Maoris to lead you home. I found that worked all right except on occasions when I had as many fish that I had to lead the horse, and then, curiously enough, he seemed to lose all power of finding his own way. One of the pleasantest rivers I fished in is the Waikato river; for fly fishing alone probably Lake Rotorua will take a lot of beating, but many of the fish, owing to overstocking, are scarcely worth taking home. But that makes them all the hungrier and more -eady to bite. In the Sorth Island rivers the iisbiug for the big sea-run bout is very nmeitain. The fish come in from the sea in shoals, and you may perhaps go to river sitter river ant would not get a bite. If you happen to ‘hit it off’ it is not to l>e beaten. If the whitebait do not happen to be running up the ri\ rs the trout will generally not Ik- there citl.ci. Also in Hie nig snow-fed rivers like the Rangitata. llalciia. and Waitaki the fishing is usually confined to an hour «r so after sunset, and again an hour before dawn, and the Lost of it is generally within a few hundred yards of th* mouth <4 the river.'