ANGLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 72

ANGLING.

Br JoobT Scott. To bt a perfect tetiermaa you (squire more excellences ti»n~ ate oinntlj to te rodud io locb » small spaoe v U allotted v • nan's anui.- PiKKia Qu.moob. Jttaders are iaYlled to contribute item* or local fishing oewi far J&earUoa in ibis column. For inseriloD in the turning lieu* tkey abeuld reset Duatdln b/ Monday night's mail. BANK NOTESI have a. lengthy communication from Mr A;- HV 'Shury, of .-sAehbuxton, which I •regret I cannot find space "for in this issue. "It will probably appear next week. Roxburgh, January 14-. "Angler" writes a-s follows: — "The' weather la.tely> although fine for the holidays, has not been what you would call "good fishing weather*. The most ot the anglers here who have been out during' the holidays have all been getting a few fish, but no baskets have been obtained. A party' were out a.t Lake Onslpw on Christmas week, another one/m. New Year's week, and another one .since, but owing to the hot; dry . weather J there were no big baskets obtained, nor were,any big fish caught. , A. 401blTroutk Value.— "Flodden Field," writing from Patearoa, - says : — "At Christmas* dinner the" conversation turned on ja fish that had provided five men -with five meals, and they were,.talking about making a party to catch a fish that-*" would give them 10 meals.. On making inquiries I was told that the first fish weighed 271b, and that there was one fully 401b to be caught. I told them" a, 401b fish was surely too valuable to put in a frying pan, and they asked, what eke could they do with it. v I said I would write to the Witness and see if there is* any criterion' of the value of a 401b trout. ' Could you tell me what is the L. S. D. value of a 401b trout landed in Dunedin? It would have been of no use to have mentioned to them that presenting it to the Tourist Department/ was ' ,-the best thing they, could do with it" — First of 'all I question the existence of the 401b trout, and as to the value, belore it can be turned -into actual money the vendor would 'require a license to sell. As far as I know (I never buy trout) the ordinary selling price is something like 6d a pound, so that, the 401b trout converted into money •would xeturn £1. But itjwould be an absurdity to turn such a fish into cash/ -It should be presented to the Tourist Department, 'the Museum, or some such institution, as a standing evidence of what New. Zealand, waters can produce. Ido not think there is any^chanoe of such a fish coming to light. "Flodden Field" must make allowances for' the imaginative powers of people.-' ,-" '. "' v -» ,- A Flaxmiller Fined.'— An exchange says : — "At the Magistrate's Court at: Winton, before Mr S. E. M'Carthy, S.M., Robert Hart," of Gar "road, flaxmiller, was charged with having "on December 5- allowed flaxmillrefuse to flow, into the Winton Greek. The information was laid by Ranger Friend on behalf of the Southland Acclimatisation Society,, for whom- Mr E. Russell appeared to prosecute. Air Rattray, for the defendant, urged that i£i was necessary for the prosecution to prove that the flaxmill refuse was noxious or injurious to' trout. Mr Russell, in reply, argued that it was an offence under the act to allow refuse from flaxmills to '■ flow into a stream, whether injurious to fish or not. • The Magistrate stated that he had no" .hesitation in upholding Mr sell's contention, and he added further that he also found as a fact that flax refuse became injurious to fish. Defendant was convicted and fined £5, with coste £2 Bs. A Nice Device for Catching Trout.— An appliance for "catching" trout was dragged out of Mara's pond on the Lower Opihi one evening recently (says an exchange) "and given to Mr "F. Pallwer, vice-president of the Acclimatisation Society, for presentation to members at the next monthly meeting. A' brief description of this lure, used by modern fish-grabbers (they cannot be called anglers) is-as follows:— On three, lengths of double gut were tied three big-eyed triplet hooks; the ends of the gut were brought together and a strong line attached; about Win /along the line was a heavy piece of i lead, and" above this again were three other piece's of "lead. " The method of .using- this grapling iron, is &> throw it into the pond, and rake the .bottom- across and across and up and down,' and foul hook' any fish that is resting on- the shingle. , The man who used it" evidently got snagged Vit».the finish, end left.it and some yards of. line in the pond, and it was * dragged out as stated. There, is a strong feeling in the society that the Opihi should be reserved for trout-fly -fishing, and it is the finding of such, "baits ' aa the one here described that strengthens that feeling. If the river ever is to be reserved, it will be the fault of some anglers who &xc determined to catoh fish, fair or loul, thai suoh reservation is brought about.

I<ake Takapuna. — A contemporary in a recent iesue writes: — "The secretary to the Auckland Acclimatisation Society, at a recent meeting, stated in regard to the society's endeavours to properly stock Lake Takapuna with rainbow trout that fish had occasionally been seen in the lake, but he had not heard of any being caught. Brown trout had 'been tried in the lake at first, but had not thrived. Rainbow trout were the"h liberated, and these were doing well, three fine fish having been taken out for breeding. The lake was a splendid one for fish, and contained a good, amount of food. He did not see why fine fishing waters should not be formed at Takapuna by maintaining a succesion of yearlings. There should indeed be fairly good fishing there next year. / The Conveyance of Trout! — A suggestion (says an exchange) which anglers who proceed to Rotorua to lure the wary trout will much apreciate has been made to the Government by Mr J. Burtt, vice-president of thevAcclimatisation Society. He wrote to Sir J. G. Ward and ip Mr T. E. Donne . ((Superintendent of Tourist Resorts) in November, mentioning that - expressions of regret and disappointment were frequently heard -regarding the - condition in which -trout, brought to Auckland s by the express . trains, arrived -at their destination, and he suggested that the luggage' van, during the warm weather, 1 should be provided^ with "an ice ohesfr, the cost of which could easily, be recouped, in freight, and which could 'also be used for the conveyance of salt water fish to Rotorua,. To this Mr"Donne replied that should the matter be referred to him he would be pleased to give it his recommendation. , At the .Acclimatisation Society's meeting Mr Burtt mentioned that having had no reply from the Premier up . to December 14- he had again written on this matter, but so far had not received any reply. Some remarks were made by members about departmental delays, and -Mr Burtt said -that if something were not done quickly it would be toojate'for this - season. A Case Abandoned. — A' paper says: — "An adjourned* charge against fix young- men of netting trout within half a mile of the mouth of a river was set .down for bee Ting' before Mr S. E. M/Carthy, ' S.M., but the. case .was struck out, on the application of Mr E. Russell, who appeared for the Southland Acclimatisation Society. He stated that the defendants had previously been before. • the eour-i, and one of them convicted on' the samei set of circumstances as "was relied on in the n£ej>3nt case, ancf the society did-, not consider it necessary to proceed further in the matter^ The facts are that a party went down' the, estuary for the purpose of netting N fish, and tiiat in -one of thir hauls several trout came to light. One of the company'insisted," againt the advice of. the others,' 'n\ taking the trout caught away with him, and on arrival at the jetty, Ranger JFriend, who Jiad beer watching the proceedings from the foreshore, appeared and' found the' fish in the Boat. - , ■ A Fine. Catch.— Two Peilding angler?, Messrs '3T. Noble and P. . Michlesen, . have had a~ .day; out amongst the trout. They made a trip to the Rangitikei~River, and on. a spot just below the Bulls bridge made a splendid haul of trout, as the result of a day's fishing. Nineteen fish were landed altogether, weighing from 71b downwards, all being of good size. "We could see the fish going up the" stream," said 3\lr Noble, "as many eajfive in' a row. We had to try several kirias of bait before we could get ■tie fish_tarjse. We tempted them with worms, grass-hoppres, locusts, and fly with no luck. Then we put or whitebait, and they came ,vp r beautifully.'* The -law forbids any man 'from taking more than 201b of fish,' and the two anglers were careful to' keep' within, the limits, otherwise the " haul might have been a larger one.' Suoh a good haul of trout/is so uncommhi in this district that a local photographer has taken a fine photograph of the string of - trout, so that unbelievers of this latest fish story may be convinced. — Exchange. , The Hon. J. A. Miller Among the Rainbows.—The Hon. J. A.- Millar, 1 during hi* recent trip to the north; had a "royal time" fishing at Rotorua. One day he made the record catch of the season — an ' eleven and a-quarter pounder. Fishing for five hour.* on* another j3ay Mr Millar secured 14 fisb, one of which was' a nine-pounder. Rotorua. Lake, Mr Millar says, is simply alive with. fi6h at tiie present time, and they wart "thinning out." Maori Rights and Privileges. — An ex; change contains the following: — Mr Wilford said there had been a great controversy in Rotorua over the claims' of car tain Maoris to" fish without a license. Their contention was/ he said, that- as the trout had practically extinguished the_ kura. which added so much to the Maori larder, -and as the trout had been introduced by Europeans, so the European should allow the Maori to fish for trout' without liceuso fee of any kind.. The discussion centred round the case of a Maori lad who was fined £5 for fishing without a license. The Maoris argue that they should be allowed to fish in season without license. They desire the trout for food. They desire to fish with rod and line only, and consider that the -regulations should be so made as to allow them to do this, and tint their rights under the Treaty of Waitangi should be respected. Mr Wilford , expressed his sympathy with the Maori vie a', and said that the Rev. Bennett, the Ma in clergyman, told him that on account of the failure of the potato crop through blight, the Maoris in pas surrounding the lakes were in the utmost destitution, living on rotten maize 'while Europeans were taking out jthe ' trout in thousands from •waters which before trout were introduced swarmed with an ample supply of food, in the form of kura (crustaceans) - and kakahi (shell fish). "In my opinion." said Mr Wilford. Mr Bennett and the Maoris make out a -good case. I consider that the Government will have to undertake the tplaxation of the fishing regulations so no to allow Natives an opportunity to" takf fish from the Rotorua waters . for food." After speaking of fishing propoect6 ge'ner ally in - various waters, Mr * Wilford said "Tarawera has not been -very "•'bod for flyfishing, "but the trolie'rs— trout murderers I call them — get' huge" bags there." JHt. suggested -the erection of an accommodation house at Rerewhakaitu — a lake o f "30 acres .in extent, "about eight miles from Waiotapu, for this' would supply a fishing ground for scores of tourists, the fish being in firat-clasß condition, and of good size.

From December 2 until January 14 the quantity of trout purchased by Invercargill fish dealers from duly licensed fishermen; amounted to 11901b-