ANGLING SEASON

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 553, 9 June 1933, Page 4

ANGLING SEASON

EARLIER OPEK|iNg? CONSENSUS OF bFmfhv AGAINST A ' ' CITANGE PAST SEASON'S FISH^q * 5'pinions recently expressed in press with r egard to the earlier on! ing of the fishing, season in th6 u region have. caused sonie inte!, among people who claiin l k something ahout the conditions T vaili-ng here. It seems quite plainSV statements have been made which 5 not stand good when all the fa^ are known. rct! With r egard to the early openin. of the season it must be reme'ier that rainbow trout provide the fish men with sport in the lahes 0f r district, whereas, in the outside 2 clilnatisation areas brown trout S principally taken, and this .species start to run at least a n« earlier than the rainbow, ft then, be quite feasible for other f tricts in New Zealand to advancn ' their openings and closings bv I month, but it would not suit Kotorua ; . The suggestion that the Season - should be^opened earlier is also'iol ) ea Upon as surprising because it was ' only last year that some anglers uw : ed ^ the extension of the season to June. As matters stand at jreseml the law defihitely provides for u i opening of the season for se™1 months", in the ■ alternative, that the water s shall be closed' to fehL ' for five- moriths. If the season were : opeiied later it would be liecessary/ carry on later, with the result that more "ripe" fish would be taken if the fishing comnienced a. month earlier it would only mean th'at, U : would be taken in poor eondition, 1 Spawning Period * i The spawning of the fish, it ^ pointed out, is largely influenced k> climatic conditions. This year, with' plentiful warm rains and the' flood. I ing of the streams, the run hashe-' gun exceptionally early. Experts ftl clare that the numher of fish attkebarriers is greatly in excess of any.l thing* seen for many years. Naturalj; the fish which spawn early get bad* into the lakes and eome int0 conll tion much earlier than the late spawr ers, but as a general rule the nfllji weather will tend to "ripen" the ii" and bring them in earlier. With regard to the alleged fal!in» : off in the sport it can be said wid; confidence that many well-known acj-' lers in this district are strongly of: opinion that fishing has been Ma® than ever this year. Not only k® catches been good, but the gendfl eondition of the fish has been wellq® to the standard of previous yern® This shows plainly enough that tk® is no food shortage. One angler whtfl has been fishing here for the In 30 years declared that h'e had bep® to think that the fishing of the dis-fl trict was going back, hut the rekkl of last season had convinced hira tkfl sport was as good as it had everton® There were not so many big fish kfl said, hut those taken were in befeH eondition. Launch owners also deckfl that f eed has never heen more pleiM ful. -fl Size of Fish ■ With ref erence to the size of fefl fish now being taken it may be that while there has heen a fa'lhfl off in the number of exceptionalfB large fish taken in some waters, has heen a distinct gain in the ari-H age weight of catches in other ptaM While the number of very heavy taken from Taupo may have decrai*® ed it is certain that the avera|H weight of the catches in Rotorua Rotoiti has increased with beli^B eondition. In studying this aspect«H the sport the most important faci.^H he taken into account is the trem^B ous increase in the number of licec|M issued. Where, years ago, the liceE^® ■were issued in hundreds they issued in thousands and conseqffitJ^B many more fish are taken. Itistte^B fore reasonable to point out tbati^B fish have not the same chance^H growing to exceptional size they had in the past. That they tinue to be plentiful and keep eondition, however is quite apps^B from the reports of well-known lers. Much has been said abouktaj^M spawning fish, or fish' "l'ipenwL^B spawn and it is contended tha practice helps to depdete the of young fish, hut as a fact the? experts show thatitm^M not the slightest difference so propagation is concerned. 1^ 13 much actual loss to take a fem with' eggs in an emhryo stags take her when ripe. hi hoth ca^^H breeding capacity is Sone ^ becomes a loss, and fr0^ , of the question it would be vantage to close earlier. Taupo Fishing Although some anglers been disappointed by their at Taupn this year inhu'in ce-ived here from reliable - goes to show tliat the season ally at Taupo has been the perienced for the last ih ■ years. Successful fishing a upon conditions. Some ang a good conditions and some man who has plenty of hands and can affoi'd to p' can usually get the sport, who has a brief holiday fish whether conditions ahle or not is likely to be ed and go away and say not there. ^