FIELD AND STREAM.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 51, 23 November 1907, Page 10

FIELD AND STREAM.

(Bv "Dry Fly ; ") The Rotorua ''Chronicle," of records the.! following- catches,:—;On Monday, Mr: BuckthbugliT afid party placed 37 tr'bu't in their basket, as the result of a day's angling., The same day, "Mr. Carl and party landed 33 fish, all in fine order. Messrs, Steele and party, in the i'akeha,' obtained 12 nice trout in Lake fiotoiti. Angling at Okere since the opening of the s6a'soii, ; Mr' Meyers has secured 120 iish, all in really good condition, and the landing, of which afforded excellent sport. Messrs; l'ottb, Elliott', and party, who have also been located at Okere, placed in their basket 40 nice trout, . l'rom a gentleman who is keeping a record, ivo learn that since the opening of the,season up-to yesterday morning, 500 trout have ueen caught at .Okere; Captain Bridsbn and tne Rev. Nicholson and friend, of H.M.S. Challenger, angling at, .Okere, caught 99 trout in three days, all f'nfo'fish. The party left for Auckland by the express on Saturday last. Messrs. Harwood and JOennie, who Visited jLake Rotoiti in the launch Maori, were successful in placing 22 nice trout in their basket. Mr. J. Doull, of Waharoa, and Mr. Williams, of Wanganui, had a day's fishing in Messrs. Goodsqn's .launch on Saturday,, and weib successful in securing 24 fish, one of which weighed 6 lbs. 'I'hc fish in Laky Rotoelm, on which Messrs.- Goodson Bros, havo placed a launch, are in excellent condition. Out on the Jake in the. oil launcli Sonoma on Monday,'' Mr. C.Nadcn and partv were successful in securing 27' trout, the agfregate weight, of which was 701bs. One eauty turned the scale at 9 lbs.

While fishing at. the mouth of. the Ashburton .River last. Saturday evening, Mr. John Thompson, succeeded in landing 14Jish, qp in weight.-Mr. also successful in his last visit to the rivermouth, when ho caught 7 fish, varying from 31b. to 61b. The river on Sunday was pn-jtho dirty side,,ShcE:according to" anglers the north-west wind experienced on Sunday night will keep it m that condition for a few days. A number of Ash burton anglers .paid, a visit to the. mouth, of the Ra"knia onfSa&irday evening, and .'were/. fairly successful: 'Mr". P. il. Cox landed 6 fish.' weighing in all Glib: j Mr. A. Pilbiw'sccurcd' 7 iish, varying from 31b. to Sib.; Mr. Seymour caught 2 fish between 31b. and 41b.: while .MfC'-D. Fncrlloiider secured four, the' heaviest being about'7Jlb.'There were about' IS rods on the river, and tho whole of the fish,landed were secured right at the bar. A very good fisli''yarn'was incidentally told' at Kohiitu during the holiday by a young man from Tadmor way, whose acquaintance with trout was chieflv from the bank with the" aid of a .303 rifle. 'lie admitted that when he wanted lish he generally shot them, though ho added.hc sometimes used a "mineral." gAVhen toldf that he should;:liave said,, a "miniibw" ho jjriis not at all disconcerted,:'' roplyi'ng'-that lie" always called it "a mineral." Ho then passed on to "torching" experiences. He said that a few days ago, at .I'admor, he was out at nigiTt for eels, when he suddenly had hvo ; yoars' growth struck out of him by two great eyes 'as big as halfcrowns <si» ring at;.him from the waterV- Ho nearly fainted, but ho got the eel, which he declared turned tlCe'scale 'at 331b5., and had eyes as big as saucers. "But you said halforowns," objected one of the audience. "Well," was the reply, "they looked' lilt",, balf-crowns in'the water, but they' were "is big as saucers on-land." Next!

Wishing is fregiEt'nfly looked upon by those who dori't know anything about it as, a, very tame sport. On the contrary,■'''those' who are enthusiastic'anglers maintain'that it is oiw.of..the \ /nost absorbing.' -Last ceason;' (says the.'. "Manawatti Standard")'''; V party of three :ihCia::sirig)o day's-expeditioir sc-curod no fower than 16 fair-sized trout in one of the streams on the.other side of the. hiJls, a tributary of the.:Man»watn. s Sonih' complain this season that there-are;,any-

amount of trout in the stream, but that they arc so small it is no sport catching them. bags '-ha"v&" Been secured thjs .noEisoHifinitfi,-up to tho usual standard" iirsize. '• Wdi'm-flslTiug lias been .prohibited in tho Tiritoa for the future

:;■ ;A,! Midhirst 'correspondent writes: —While qji.t(,lisljij)g„,,tl\c othflr day, two youths from .MidliifsV'"strtick ftilj" at least so they fondly !.b'elibvcd.' J oii arriving at a-, pond they found ■it• 'simply\tcoming'-Iwikh' speckled beauties. :lii iVAint.'the" lli'ie!>' i r,a.'nd.'6iit camo fish after fish, but thoy soon dearly paid for them. Tliey heard- an- 'astonished voice in tho disand on.looking down" stream saw a tall gun in its ; .hand.':.;Thc, hoysOTadc.hff, and one, stooping to get fence, heard a report', of. iitimedintqly experienced a stinging sensation yin the.'part of his body that stilliremaWcd tb;.:gct„.fhrough the .fence,'.; Another reiKUlkiftlljtoU' jj fow. siiot on'tering::;tliO::o^Ket's.;Jboy , B»Jf|jni I d.; 4 ' The lads had'entercd-one-of the-hatcheries near Stratford! Nino pellefetha.ve since'lißca extracted ,fl-6w,tl)c dimiagElt Sottiou bf;t!V(iJlTst, lad I

•Tho. fly fishing, in" connection ■with tho Nelson 'Anglers Club took place re'b'ontly, 1 lni'£''£tic'clay proved unsuitable in more 'way's:tlialT'bfle*:*. AYstfd"rfg'.s6ut'h"-easfc wind blew* down tho Maitai Valley, militating against good-sport-r and the-crowds of picnickers along tho bank of tho stream made the ' an'glefs*' task harder. The fish taken were the ■ voteran E.' Sherwood, who carii'c out first? with 15"<fish, was the only fisherman to bring in "a" "decent basket. J. E. ;Hounscjl ;^'a,s/>sec,ond t ,with,..ii vo, .fish, and 0. .Batchelor-.ihird:w*ith'ilw.o^-fis]i, -beating -T. 'Houlkerv'witlv'rfnj-.equaLtinumbcr/iby weight. Mr. Alb'orbugtr, Witln~o"ric7jishy..ar)d:A. I'anth.6rpq,,,,who,.roti,re}l without result, wore tho iOth'or.'~'cbmpet'itiors:\ l -.Tno-a'nglerß'and friends iw-cre''.'inter faMorLby'.Mrsf., J:i E.lHounsoll at Woodward acted;BsjjyagfjjjjMiC Hector iValker assisting.

.; "Wi WheliiiakWilSsettler was aroused _ from ago by the mewing <>f occupied by nimse,lf. and :his_wifc,.„says,.the "Patea County Pre's's , .''' !, ' ,i EIfo l rts t 'tb J siierice the cat wore un-ayaijing.-and-at.lajt to got ,up and liglit'.'the baiidle.' 'He then found tnat thei cafe Tiad'.,brought a. large eel into tne *rorfm,'."iind.'"&'ppar.biltly was desirous that its master should inspect its capture. The cat ".wa's" '.pftt'•' 1 olitsufdp "tiitl aittlb:! mb&c thought •ab'otlt the matter. Throo nights afterwards asf-hc settler was sitting in the dining-room reading 'ho 1, was again disturbed by tho cat, a'nd.looking down found that it'had brought anotlier eel, which-'was;alive, into the room. His cu'riosityj was..iio'w''.arofised as to where tfie, eels from, ; and how_ the cat. got them. 1 -' On exfimmfng; 5 t'ho aTiimalHie found that it ,was wet, and its paws and legs Wero -Coyered--.w.ith-.:imuL—iNear_-the, .Jiousb is a creek in which eels are to,be found, and it ■ is-- surmised "that- the cat-obtains its fish supply .from this \place'.- v. ~"""

!,;Ihe following is a clipping from an American exchange:—Redlands,- September"-27. ''Darting about in the deep/.'transparent pools !sfi','Bear Creek, injtfie SanJJijrnardino moynti,a"ji>s, is a large speckleil tfijntrthat wears an ;.'pusgant gold is probably ;t!Kp only fish in thpi'wbi;kr'tiius adorned. He Jias been seen b'yVha'lfi, persons at 'different ftash'in"g"iri''the sunlight. George prominent ra'nchiinaii.'from itibe and his father T in-lajv;f F. W'.'Hn'n't^'just back fronua trip, can account for tho the first day out, was .'casting .his .line 'upstream, .when he came :; of tr.out, but they refused to'bite. Smallwood leaned over a protrudirig rock" to watch the .speckled beauties," and his watch and chain dropped over the head of the largest fish as he snot away, and seems to have become securely hooked. ; Smallwood followed tho trout tar up stream, but finally lost track of fish and timepiece.* Yesterday tho trout was. seen again, still wearing !< \ The catches inado-jn,tlie : iA\>ik9ts).river this year so far 'ambujYted to nil and fishermen are naturaflyTllsappointed. Last year a number of fine specimens were capght in CanibTOtgc!~as: the beginning of the season'; but th*ey have appeared to have been disturbed by the municipal unrest and have doparted for more congenial surroundings. Recently a Hamilton resident received the .fallowing expressive post card from Cambridge's only "Mac":—Twenty men, .L'O licenses, 20 rods, fish nil. Do you want to buy any .tackle cheap?"/ baskets of fish wore secured by Aslthurton anglers last week (says the "Lytteltoh Times." Mr. J. H. Stephens landed twenty-five fish at the mouth of the Rangitata, averaging 4}lb., the heaviest being 121b. ~Fishing on tho Aslnirton side at ''tho/mbutlv' or;, tho ! Rnkara : > i; srr.' H. Sinclair (ScayicwO.., grossed, fif.tfponq fish, 7lb.,"ahd' the' Heaviest weighed' 111b. The fish.caimot"bcrcohlsidored hrthe>pink of condition.