TROUT FISHERIES

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 58, 2 December 1926, Page 10

TROUT FISHERIES

CLOSE INSPECTION MAINTAINED

“RUNS” LATER THAN FORMERLY

Comprehensive reports have been furnished to the Minister of Internal Affairs (Hon. R. F. Bollard) by experienced officers of the fisheries of Rotorua, Taupo, and Tokaanu. Frequent inspections of the lakes and streams running into them were made in June, July, August, September, and November. Summed up, the reports state that while the “runs” were comparatively poor when the first one or two inspections were made, they increased very considerably during the months of August and September. “That appears to indicate,” the officers state, “that the ‘runs’ are taking place later than was formerly the case, and this has a distinct bearing on the dates fixed for the opening of the season. While it was urged in some quarters that the season should commence on October 1, conclusive evidence is obtainable that it would be a mistake to have opened the season earlier than November 1, as the fish, or a large proportion .of them, would not have recovered from the spawning much earlier than November 1.”

The report of an officer (written on October 4) of an inspection of the Waitahanui and Hatepe Rivers, which flow into Lake Taupo, states: “I inspected the Waitahanui River, and found that a fair number of fish still remain in the upper reaches of this river. There are also a fair number of fish in this river near the outlet, and the fish are plentiful in the lake at the outlet. Good catches are being made by fly fishermen at Waitahanui. The fish caught this season t»* Taupo are much larger and in better condition than any fish caught during the month of November in previous years. On November 5 I inspected the Hatepe River, and found that a fair number of fish still remain in this river. The fish are also plentiful at the outlet, where some good catches have already l>een made. During the season of 1925-26 the best catch made by a trolling party of four during the month of November was twenty-two fish, while forty-eight fish were caught yesterday by three men who were only out for a few hours in the morning. The fish were in excellent condition, and averaged about six or seven pounds.” Mr. Bollard observed yesterday that the Department of Internal Affairs had for some time been obtaining ova from Lake Hawea trout and liberating the fry raised in Lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti, and also in Taupo. A hatchery was now being erected in Tokaanu, and a collection of ova would be taken over in that lake during the next spawning season, and large numbers of fry would be liberated in the Rotorua district.

Poaching and Basket Limits. “It is realised,” continued the Minister, “that poaching has been carried on. Every effort is being made to curtail this illegal method of taking trout, and additional rangers have been appointed for the purpose. Further, the time has come to stop the catching of large quantities of trout for the purpose partly of creating records, and it is now being made illecal for any person to take more than 25 trout in any one day, this being considered a very good basket. It was believed that a fairly large amount of poaching was carried on at night-time, and, further, that illegal methods were in some cases adopted, such, for instance, as fishing with illegal lures, and it was therefore decided to make it illegal to fish for trout between the hours of 9 p.m. on any day and 4 a.m. on the following day.

“The netting of trout by the Department was undertaken in the first place owing to the very large number of slabs and diseased fish in the lake, and also owing to the necessity of thinning out the fish, the very large numbers being considered to be partly responsible for the poor condition of the fish. The Department has, however, been doing practically no netting in the lake for some seasons, except possibly a little at the latter end of the season: the main object being to keep the fish in good condition.”