TROUT IN THE SELWYN.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16422, 16 January 1919, Page 7

TROUT IN THE SELWYN.

A SERIOUS SHORTAGE.

A deputation of fishing enthusiasts, whose favourite haunt is the Ellesmero district, waited on the Council of tho Canterbury Acclimatisation Society last evening and deplored the present s to of the fishing in the Selwyn river. - o many years ago, said Mr H. C. Ki ley, who headed the deputation the yn river was positively packed w • That was only about five years a , at the present time fishing in th t ; was hopeless —a positive farce. speaker asked the meeting what the •Society was doing to "bring back■ old balmy days." Mr Ridley suggt- i that the Society, instead of stock l n„ tho river with fry, should stock with yearlings. Incidentally, he remarked that he understood most ot t.ue southern rivers were in very much tlio same position, but he was sp.aking more particularly of the Selwyn. I 1 rom o - servations mads, he proceeded, tho nsu that were now being caught in the ous rivers were not proper river nsii, but "miserly" fish. Mr Ridley spoko strongly against the method of .^' 0I * lrL, fishing, and ho considered that « tho Selwyn were closed for a period to worm fishers, a good example would be set to the whole of \e\v Zealand. Nevertheless. he had fished the Selwyn for tenl or a dozen years, but at no time had ho caught a bad-conditioned fish. The fish, Mr Ridley continued, appeared to be changing their habits. Fly were as plentiful as ever about the river, But! last year, an evening rising fish was quite unknown. In the speaker s opinion, what was needed was a new breed oil fish altogether. At present the fish appeared to bo bottom-feeding fish. If things went on as at present, fly-fishmg would be useless. Personally, ho oouldl not understand anybodv getting any pleasure out of worm fishing, and lie thought that the object of the Society should be to enoourage fly-fishing as a sport. Tho only spirting way to uso a worm was to use it as a flpr, and tho Society might do good if it imposed such a condition on worm fishing. Mr W. T. Billens expressed the opinion that it was not worm fishing that was spoiling tho river, but the increased facilities of getting to tho river for fishng.

[ The planting of the river in various f laces with willows was also suggested y Mr Ridley :.s a possible explanation! for the lack of fish, and be thought that a littlo trimming of those willows by tho Society might give very much improved fishing. In conclusion. Mr Ridley asked that tho Society might look back its records jfor a few years, and| see whether the practice in those days was to re-stock tho river with yearlings or not. At present, he concluded, there was an almost oomplete lack oil three-inch fish, though in the old davg a . " a .K of 30 or more fish of from four to six inches was a common thing at tho beginning of the season. Mr C. 11. Clark considered that a suggestion by Mr llidley that yearlings should bo put in somo distance above the Ellesmero bridge was a good one. Mr P. J. De ]a Cour also inclined to the idea that the greatly-increased number of fishermen were largely responsible for the present position, llie food in the river was as good and as plentiful as ever.

Mr E. Hardcastle said that in the ram rivers at the prosent time he did not think the shortage of fish was duo to lack of food, but to tho migratory habits of the fish. It was a remarkable thing, but the fish nowadays simply would not stoj> in the river. What j Van^ * n s opinion, was a new breed of fish which was not go migratory. The South Canterbury experience was similar to that being found here, namely, that the fish would not stay in tho upper reaches of tho rivers, but congregated about tho mouths. There were only two solutions of the question fish that would stop in the writ or, or feed that would keep thorn there. Mr Hardcastle also spoke of the mischief done by tho shag in tho upper reaches of the rivers. As regards the numbers of fishermen, Mr Ridley remarked that very few were to be noticed about the Ellosmere end of the Selwyn. Mr L. A. Shand said that ho had never known the fishing to be as good at the head of the river as in the lower reaches. Personally, he thought that feed had something to do with tho matter. Mr Shand advocated the stocking of rivers with fry instead of yearlings, and as one reason for this remarked that yearlings were first fed in captivity, and were then put into the nyers, and wero at the mercy of the eels and other bigger fish, while the fry matured m the shallows, amongst the stones, etc., and rose to the higher depths strong fish well able to protect themselves. Dr. C. Morton Anderson said that he thought that the shortage of fish in the local and South Canterbury rivers "was due very largely to recent dry seasons, and to the late season this year. Personally, he did not attach much importance to the "new blood idea." Wherever the fish wero imported from they would acquire the habits of the other fish in the rivers whether migratoiy or not. Dr. Anderson also attributed the shortage very largely to the draining of the rivers by water-races. The curator, Mr Hope, in the course of a few brief remarks, said that yearlings were much the more expensive to rear, and, further, they had a tendency tp mako towards the sea. He agreed with Dr. Anderson that the lack of rain and the drainage of tho rivers by water-races were very largely responsible tor tho shortage of later years. Incidentally, Mr Hope remarked that he had been one of the first to fish in the Hororata river,, and in those days had caught on the fly fish weighing 61 b, where now fish of about 6 ounces were taken. Mr Hardcastle quoted various instances of rivers which had no waterraces draining them, and had not been affected by drought, and vet wero now practically devoid of fish, though there had been every opportunity for their multiplication. That Vas one feature, he said, which he oould not understand. Finally the deputation was assured that the points it had raised would receive every consideration.