TROUT FISHING

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12619, 2 December 1926, Page 3

TROUT FISHING

CURTAILING POACHING RECORD-BREAKING CATCHES ACTION BY MINISTER Comprehensive reports have been furnished to the Minister Internal Affairs (the Hon R. F. Bollard) by’ex-. Serienced officers of the fisheries of otorua, 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" wer6 comparatively poor when one or two inspections were made, they increased very considerably during the months of August and September. "That appbars to indicate/' the officers state, "that the 'runs' ore taking place later than was formerly the case, and this has a distinct bearing on the dates fixed for the open season (November Ist). "While it was urged in some quarters that the season should commence on October Ist, conclusive evidence is obtainable that it would be a mistake to have opened the season earlier than November Ist as the fish, or a large proportion of them, would not have recovered from the spawning, much earlier than November Ist." g BETTER CATCHES The report of an officer, written laft month, of- an inspection of the Waitahanui„ and Hatepe rivers, which flow into Lake Taupo, states: —"I inspected tlie 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 mado by fly fishermen at Waitahanui. The fish caught this season at Taupo are much larger and in better condition than any fish caught during, the month of November in previous years... "On November sth I inspected the Hatepe river tand that a. fair number of fish still remain in this river. The fish are also plentifu\ at the outlet, where some good catches, have alreadybeen made. "During the season of 1925-26 the best; catch made by a trolling party of four during the month of November wae twenty-two fish, while forty-eight fisb 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." POACHING Mr Bollard said that the Department of Internal Affairs had for some time been obtaining ova 1 from Lake Hawea trout and liberating the fry raised in Lakes Rotorua, 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 tho next spawning season, and large numbers of fry would bo liberated in the Rotorua district. "It is realised," continued tho 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 lias come to stop the catching of large quantities of trout for the purpose partly of creating records, and it is now being made illegal for any person to take more than 25 trout in #.By 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 adopt* ed, 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. DISEASED FISH "The netting of trout by the department was of course undertaken in the first place owing to the very largo number of slabs and diseased fi6h in the lake, and also owing, to the necessity of thinning out the fish, the very larae 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 Reason: the main object being to keep the fish in good condition." . FAMILY OF PALL-BEARERS Impressive scenes were witnessed at the’funeral of a woman in Edinburgh, the bereaved husband and his seven grown-up daughters acting as pallbearers. Each of the mourners held a cord, and lowered the coffin into tho grave, around which they stood in silence for some minutes before departing quietly*