ANGLING NOTES.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19173, 2 December 1927, Page 3

ANGLING NOTES.

(BY "CREEL.")

One of the best bags obtained over the week-end was taken by Mr E. Brunton on the "Lure." The heaviest fish scaled lljlb, and was in excellent condition. Other bags of fewer and smaller tish were also obtained from the Lower Sehwr..

One night recently a. local angler fishing below Coe's Ford was successful in grassing six fine fish on the fly. The heaviest fish was in the vicinitv of 121b.

Reports to hand this week from the llororata and Upper Selwyn rivers are more encouraging, some good bags having been taken from these streams during the past few days. In the vicinity of Glentunnel the river is in good order, and quite a lot of fish have been seen.

Fishing the llalswell one evening recently, a resident of the locality had three hours' good fishing with the bully. Twelve fish were landed, ranging from "\ to Ulb. Although rather hard to get at, this river is well worthy of a visit, as some excellent bags have been taken from its waters this season.

"Red Spinner," of Southland, advises me that Atlantic salmon have been faking well in Lake Te Anau, and the fish generally are in good condition. 'During the past 10 days or so about fifty salmon have been caught at the outlet of Te Aiiau. The Waiau mouth has again been a good fishing ground this season, and several Atlantic salmon have been caught there, proving that some, at least, do go to the sea.

During tho sou'-wester on Monday night a Lakeside resident fishing tho southern end of the lake from the shore succeeded in landing seven tish, ranging from lUlb to s}lb.

Owing to the Rakaia and Waimak. being high and dirty, practically no fishing was done in these rivers over the week-end.

Lake Pearson is well worth a visit at present. Some fine fish up to 81b have been taken from these waters during the last few days on the fly—about Xo. 6 hook is the popular size.

Lake Lyndon was visited last weekend by over twenty anglers, but very few fish wero caught. So far this season no bags of exceptional size have been caught in this lake. At. time of writing the Rakaia, Waimak., and Hurunui Rivers are still unfishable, and the Ashley is running fairly high, although it is not very discoloured. .

The question is often asked, Why does a salmon take a fly?

It is pointed out by some that he does not feed in fresh water, and it cannot, therefore, be the case that ho takes the 'fly in order to satisfy his appetite. Again, it is suggested that lie takes it because it exasperates or excites him. Some say that the salmon fly represents a small fish; others suggest that it is merely a gaudy lure which somehow attracts the fish. Certain similar speculations are indulged in concerning the wet ; flies used for sea trout and brown trout. Some patterns are supposed to represent mature insects, some larvce, and some fry of small fish. Some of these speculations may be justified, but of one thing I am fairly well satisfied—that fish are attracted by brightly-coloured or glittering lures, like the salmon fly or the spoon bait, simply because they are brightly coloured or glittering. Further, I believe that the ordinary brown trout has many of the characteristics of the salmon, and'that he will sometimes, take a lure 'tnerely because it shows up as brightly coloured ; or glittering in. the water. '. The silver-i>odied fly is always an attraction for trout. The. red generally used in the tag of the. Zulu, or the body of. even so orthodox a. fly aB the Eed Spinner, is much ..brighter than anything in Nature. The flash of the gold on the body of the Wickham's Fancy and many other lures.of this description are no real imitations of Nature, but simply lures which' provide that peculiar '•'flash," as Dr. Ward calls it, that has a powerful attraction tp almost every kind of fish. . It has, I know, been suggested by some authorities that fish have little or no colour sense, but there is so much to support a contrary view that I feel myself justified in assuming that they have a colour sense fairly strongly developed. II they have not, then it seems to •».* the basic principle of dryfiy fishing,, that one should always fish with an imitation of the fly on the water, has no foundation whatever. We have all of us experienced occasions wlien the fish will refuse every artificial fly except one that closely resemble* the.fly on the water. This, I think, clearly shows that fish must have the power of discriminating both in resnect of the colour and of the form of objects on the surface of the water. In some positions almost any floating luro must appear as a mere silhouette against the sky, but generally there is under water a certain amount of light that is reflected from coloured surfaces, and which must enable the fish to distinguish colour. Hitherto I have found that trout show a very strong preference for a fancy beetle coloured red underneath, with long red legs, and in producing the red I have used simply the "ordinary red sealing wax dissolved in methylated spirit. A more vivid and strident colour can scarcely be imagined. I have, therefore, come to the conclusion that, not only are fish attracted to their undoing by the "flash" of a hue reflected from the tinsel of a salmon fly or from the surface of a spoon bait, but that bright colours —especially red—attract fish in some mysterious way. —R. C. R. Nevill.