NORTHERN FISHING

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 513, 16 November 1928, Page 16

NORTHERN FISHING

EARLY SEASON EXPECTED LAUNCHMEN PREPARE FOR BIG GAME (Special to THE SUN) RUSSELL,, To-day. The Ashing launches have mostly undergone their annual overhaul in preparation for the Ashing season, and within the next few days every launch owner will have completed the task of not only painting them but overhauling the equipment. Every launch-owner takes great pride in his launch, and in view of the fact that deep-sea Ashing boats are specially equipped with every conceivable contrivance in order to cope with these huge Ash, the amount of work involved is considerable. It is not generally known that the mako shark, hammerhead shark, thresher shark ' and king Ash all sporting Ash—may actually be caught at any period of the year, but the black marlin, striped marlin and broadbill do not make their appearance in large numbers till about Christmas. SWORDFISH SEEN A few days ago a sword Ash was observed off Piercy Island, which leads to the opinion that these Ash will be striking the coast up North somewhat earlier than usual. Bird Rock is a hive of sea-birds, which is evidence that there is plenty of feed about. It is a great sight to see these birds dying from their haunts on this well-known rock and settling down on to the waters of the PaciAc for miles around. The train arrangements for this year’s deep-sea Ashing have made it easier for the deep-sea Ashermen. A fast express train leaves Auckland at 8.40 a.m., for Opua, the railway terminus, and launches meet all trains at Opua to convey the anglers to the Ashing rendezvous. Besides a large number of oversea bookings for deep-sea Ashing here, a number of New Zealanders will be indulging in the thrilling sport this season.