SMELTS

Hokitika Guardian, 5 December 1928, Page 1

SMELTS

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(Contributed.)

During ilie past two weeks an (aidless slum] of smelts have licen (altering the Hokitika liver making thenway up stream. The shoal is probably tin 1 largest on record and is being billowed from seaward by large flocks of sea birds feeding oil the little fish. Salmon trout likweise ill large numbers are following in the wake ol the shoal as they enter the river. I best' scavengers will no douhl destroy a big portion of the shoal before it readies its destination in the creeks up country.

It is the opinion of experiemod whitebait fishermen that had the weal her been more seasonable during the earlv part of the season these fish would have entered the river in the form of whitebait, known as the jelly lish species. It. may he mentioned that there are two distinct species ol whitebait, the lish with the dotted line extending trout the head to the tail, while the other is a much stouter lish with a yellowish tint and known to fishermen as the jolly-tisli species, which is often to he found on the verge of turning from a whitebait to a smelt. The other species of whitebait with the dotted lim* extending from the head to the tail is a much earlier lish and later turns to Imiuga.

In all probability the present big run oif smelts may he the loreruuner oi a hie run of whitebait next season. '