BANS NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 66

BANS NOTES

The Pomahaka.— Mr A. Anderson, well Jcnown among anglers, spent a few days on the Pomahaka, at the Rankleburn Samp, between the Christmas and New ! Tear holidays. He found the . river low jid clear, and the water was quite warm — • j much, so that the fish were quite -off 1 be ' take. He, however, got a few trout 3fh the bare fly, the minnow proving very iiffevSSve., On New Tear's afternoon Mr i .lodger, of Tapanui, came on the, river. %i wind was then blowing strongly, and ! fefTtodger in getting, some nice m with the minnow, the heaviest- beinc bout 2£lb, or 31b.~ Mr A. Jolly, of «uanui, was camped on the Rankleburn, Ufc did not meet with any great success." Ir John TiOgan and Mr O. -IX R-. Richardoix were on the river at Kelso, and aver- ■ £ed£ 12 to 15 "fish a day each, the fish loatly running between Jib and .lib. These lleh were taken with the fly, of which a humber we re used. The small Black Gnat ftnd GreenwelTs Glory were found to be 4|d effective killers as any. - Wrvipahi and Pomahaka. — In conversation with an in a tackle shop on tevmday, I was 'told that neither the "WaiBpiii nor the Pomahaka had 1 been productive 5F good baskets during the holidays. . Angling about Timaru.— =The following is . h**sn the Timaru Herald,of December 28:— * '•^Enough a' great many TimaTU- aiiglera •pent their Christmas holidays at the rivers, ♦lie majority had very poor luck. A few, bfiwever, -were very fortunate Jn getting ( fe»d of big trout, which make their season&.lj» run at this time of year. Mr C. ■ XJ*l#iu6 caught four of an average- of 101b, s $H% smallest oeing 7£lb and the largest 151b. I njj I{. Bltiokmore grassed 'hree, the Mfiail bw'xg I2lb. The veteran, "Mr Ohas. raSnolag, got "a splendid: basket on Christ- ( ZSm night, the heaviest being 151b. Mr P. i Baßy was also fortunate on Boxing night, g«port statinjp *hat he got one of 171b. fYnn the fly -ir O. "assell secured a »*a.utiful basket of 16 ate the Upper Ottihi, and a.t the lowe^ At H. Randrup i)£jjl a. four-pounder in his take with the little rod. Temuka anglers on the north Vide of the river are rSboTted' to have done %«ry well. All the big fish were taken from iftpta's and Twentyman's ponds." £Phe 'Opihi. •'-"In the Ooihi on a recent tfvenirig Mr "W. M'Callum (Temuka) caught $wo trout, one 151b and the other 121b. ' glaring- tlie-Olir-isfcni&s tolidaya at tfae I«yw<3ir I Opihi some Timaru ang.^rs had good sport,-! air O. Malthus taking four -fish" averaging ] 101b, Mr.H. TBlackmoxe three, the heaviest I weighing 121b,' and' Mr C. Nicholas, a good j basket, the heaviest weighing 151b. On the j .upper Opihi .Mr C. .E. Russell got 16 fish, tower Opihi. — Anglers- report that a new B-riS conspicuoue notice has been 'put up at ; the reserve, I/ower Opihi, warning persona that the reserve is for "Anglers Only. It « further- reported that the privileges £fc*t the 4colimatisatio» Society secured £cjr their license-holders at the reserve Earned! are being grossly abused, and that iie reserve is rapidly becoming a common f?onic ground.- Also" that instead of being « place where anglers can enjoy a change in the way at - least of a rest, sleep at any tuiar of the day "or night is impossible. The society should, anglers contend, inquire- into Ihtae^ mattered and! take such steps as will f'Qsure the regulations being observed. — 'imam Herald, December 31. The Ashburton. — While fishing at the jaouth of the Ashburton, Mr A. C. Jonassen landed 25 fish,- the total weight of which Jfraa 681b, and the heaviest fish 91b. . Angling in Canterbury. — A number of Anglers from Christcimrch visited Temuka during the recent holidays, and l enjoyed excellent sport in the Temuka and Opihi Ifciyei*. Good baskets were obtained, but T»? very large fish were caught. It is reported that some misconception exists in th.c minds ,of some local anglers with regard to the portions of the Avon which hive been *>'=*«ed and; those w*hich are open. The secretary of the Canterbury Acclimatisation, Society states 'aat the position is fchat fishing in the River Avon frov the £>&nd on the Riccarton road to the Colombo ■trect bridge is absolutely prohibited, and ij>e society's rangers have been instructed 4b take act'-n against anyone infringing JhLs regulation. Some time ajjo, by Gazette Sjotice, that portion of the river from the *:olombo street bridge downstream to the iEast Belt (Fijzgerald avenue) bridge was thrown, open K>r fishing with legal bait.

Angling in the North Island. — Several anglers appear to have visited the North Island during the holidays, with the object of doing some fishing, and their experience does not cause them to wax enthusiastic, nor anything approaching it. One gentleman expressed himself thus: "I come back satisfied that if we 1 knew how to advertise our goods in the south ac they do in the north we would 1 never go north for fishing/ Among those who went north was Mr C. P. M. Butterworth. Mr Butterworth has just returned', and indicates that while he did' some fishing at Rotorua he did not give it any special attention. He, like others, does not seem to be enohanted "gith lake fishing, but found fishing in the Wglkato River, with fly or minnow, productive of good sport, Rainbow trout up to 91b being caught. Mr Butterworth tried at Tokaanu, where the big fish have been taken. The^ river is the Tongariro, and the fishing ia done at night. The fish are ! brown trout, and they come from Lake Taupo. Mr Butfcerworth did not get any fish larger than 51b; but another angler secured one magnificent fellow weighing 181b. Tapanui Anglers' Association. — Twelve out of the fourteen entered for the Tapanui anglers and deerstalkers' competition competed (6ays the Courier), and the three best baskets obtained were as follow: Mr R. A. Rodger, 26 fish, weighing 261b; Mr S. M. Poynter, 17 fish, weighing 221b; Mr } W. D. Poynter, seven fish, weighing 131b Mr Rodger takes the gold medal^ the three most successful fishermen having the same handicap. The other baskets were email, and some failed to weigh in. The river was in good order, but in the Rankleburn j it was described as an " off day " with the ' fish. The prize basket included a nice lot of fish, taken on die first stretch of water below the mouth of the Waipahi. A Collection of Nejy Zealand Trout. — An opportunity of estimating the quality of the trout to be found in New Zealand - is given (writes the New Zealand Herajd's correspondent) by a visit to the New Zealand Government Agency in George street, where 16 of the fi6h, well preserved and mounted, are on view. The brown, rain , bow, and Loch Leven varieties are repre- j sented, and the streamß from which thejr have come are in Ashburton, Southland, Rakaia, Rangitata, Selwyn, Rotorua, Waitaki, and the Waikato. The largsss is a rainbow trout from Rotorua weighing 21£lb, and the smallest a Loch Leven of 81b. The average weight of the collection is 151b, a record whioh "beats the New South Wales trout out of sightOne Good Effect of Last Summer's Drought.— ■'" Iron Blue" -writes in the Timaru Post as follows: — "There are nob any of the usual reports of good baskets made in Cooper's Creek to be chronicled, for the reason that in -the autumn, after - resisting the long summer drought, the springs from- which the stream derives its "water supply failed, and the trout wjere left high and dry. Great eels, up to 15lj> in weight, came out of the drying mud and were speared, and then the crecTi bed went •Wate.rfess for, months, and with the -exception of a dozen trout in. a pool near the source everything perished. Cooper's Creek has been dry only twice in 40 years, co it should, if possible, be "Te-stooked. The trout there are nearly always in good condition, and it is to be supposed that most of their enemies— the eels— died with the former inhabitants, so that afl£ liberated trout fry would have everything in their favour. It would be a very good idea to turn some rainbow trout into the creek; ■ the current is not swift, there is plenty of ! cover and natural feed' for them, and they * would find it difficult to escape, for the creek low down in its course merely filters through the shingle for some distance beforp it reaches the Orari." i An Odd Assortment.— A writer on angling who «lways provides good reading tells the ' following amusing litllo story. He preface? I by saying a broken tod top is a serioui accident to a fisherman at a distance from . home and a coil of strong thread ana some cobbler's wax, -with which to Tepair -possible t breakages, take up next to no space, and I should always be carried. By the way, tn* cobbler's wax should be -wrapped in a bit of leather or cloth, for it attaches itself ' to everything noar. He goes on to say: I 1 was without it one day when I wanted ] some, and asked a. ma"n if he had any. He gravely handed to me 1 a curious-lookm? i mass. The outside of it was evidently a cut-off pocket in which the wax had been soo confidently carried, and the rest con- . sisted of a sixpence, a key or two, a knife, '. ' part of a cake of "tobacco, and several other ' , things, all mixed -up with a. quantity of ' , wax. _ The man said t© often wanted the sixpence, and- that some day, when he had ; ;"• time, he should try to recover it. | 1 j An Angler's Evasion. — In the course of ! I his writings in a recent issue of the Timaru ! Post, " Iron. Blue " ■ narrates an amusing * instance of how .reluctant an angler may , be tp impart information as to the causp .! of his success -with the rod. " Iron Blue " J I tells the story thus: On going to a river— 1' if the trout are rising— it is a great help , I to know at the beginning what fly they I ' are taking, and once on arriving at the , - Opihi I s.aw an angler already at work in ; the act of landing a capture., and, "asked t " What is the fly?" He was a sulky-looking f man, and in reply to my question grunted > out that it was a "green gauze- wing. j i did not know what % ha,t might be, buK > thought it discreet nob vo inquire further > in case it might be a " catch' for me L also. Going some distance up-stream L - . rigged up a Hozland's Fancy and a Reel I Ant — hoih. old Opihi favourites, — and coon a began to oatch fish. The man with tho i patent fly did not seem to be doing much i and presently he came up-stream too. In his- turn he asked, " What are you catching f them onf" I was just going to tell him. i^when a thought came to me, a.nd after a I pause, in which to enjoy the situation to i its iv% 1 said, " A green gauze^winjg," and t t muat admit that I listened with pleasure '- to his muttered malediction as he passed i away. - i New Method of Landing Fisb.— Two I 1 fishermen in a Woodville district have . adopted a novel method of landing the r \ " speckled beauties," and they never wet s their feet during the operation. They fish b ffom off the backs of their horses, and when a a., fish is hooked the horse quietly takes i the fisherman to the shore and the fish is i landed. The idea is a good one, and no ? doubt will become popular. The other day c we heard of a settler who resides" not very c far from Woodville who has c dog tha« c is very expert at catching trout, especially s -when the river js a bit low. We do noe know ii the settler 'v question hae takeu

out a license for the dog; if not, he shoul.! keep a sharp look-out for the ranger whea lie goes a-fishing. — Examiner.