FISHING SEASON

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 58, 2 December 1926, Page 15

FISHING SEASON

Two months of the trout fishing season having gone, inquiries were mane yesterday as to Hie catches in the Wellington acclimatisation district. Iv those sportsmen who will only use ntificial bait, the season has been a disappointment so far, owing to the frequency of heavy rain and the consequent cloudv state of the rivers and streams. That, however, does not dispose of the matter, for wherever there are trout ways and means will be found to catch them, lhe season has been quite a good one fof the “wormers,” those fishermen —and women, too — who use the worm as the only possible bait for muddied waters. A recent report from a Wairarapa ranger stated that one man, fishing with the worm, took 126 fish within a week. A good story is told of one ranger who had no great faith in worm fishing. He came across two young women fishing in the Waipoua River with worm, and after stating his views, fixed up his rod, adjusted his fl.Vj and cast for about twenty minutes without getting a rise. One of the ladies said that he would never get a fish with a fly in such water, and asked him to try her rod with a worm. Within five minutes he hooked a fine fish, and ad mitted that he was in error So heaw have been the raids made on the Waipoua by the “wormers,’' that it is said to be very likely that the river will be closed to anything but artificial bait fishermen next season. That applies also to the Mangatainoki, which suffered by the success of the worm fishermen last season, and during the two months of this season which have gone. Good fishing has been reported between the Manawatn Gorge and the eastern boundary of the district towards Hawke’s Bar, and the Ohau and Makuri Rivers are! reported to be fishing well.