SOUTH ISLAND ANGLING.

Taihape Daily Times, 17 January 1919, Page 7

SOUTH ISLAND ANGLING.

"DETERIORATION OF SPORT." i FORMER VISITOR'S VIEWS. i In ISJo a few Old Country anglers ; resident in Melbourne formed a MelI bourne Angling Brotherhood, to visit New Zealand caeb summer. Of this brotherhood, Dr. Rentoul, Dr. Mac Far and Mr. A. Mac Diarmid" (a wellknown barrister of Adelaide) aFe the last remaining members. Anglers from all quarters belonged to this brother- | hood, but wnat they consider deterioration of the angling conditions, combined with the loss of time, has largely brought it to an end. Dr. Rentoul, who used to visit Southland with his friends every summer, explains why the trips were discontinued in an article on angling in the Melbourne "Herald" of December 7, the following extract from which will be found interesting:— "One thing it is necessary to say in order to keep some from disappointment. In New Zealand we used to have probably the finest trout-fishing " rivers in the world, both for the smaller size of trout (ranging from lib to 41b), and also for the large sea-run trout at the tidal mouth of the great snow rivers. Tho teoevti, days for thi angler were from the years 18S6 to 1906. Anglers came, to New Zealanor from the Old Land, from India, and from all quarters of the world. Those who like our Melbourne angling, shared in the unique experience of those years know that they felt a joy that can never in these lands return. "The 'detrloration of angling in New Zealand is one of the saddest things in angling history. AH kinds of base practices—netting, dynamitig, worming—have become so widespread that the true angler thinks of it with a kind of heartbreak. The action of the Seddon, and especially of the Sir Joseph Ward Governments, precipitated this deterioration of angling in New Zealand. The boatmen, for example, at Hiverton, at the tidal mou* of the famous Afparima River, are now allowed to spread their nets for flounder and other fish up to the narrow railway crossing, and this stops largo sea-run trout from coming up the once famous river. "The destruction of the finest kinds of large trout in most of the main rivers in New Zealand is something terrible to think about to one who has gone through the experience of yoars. The finer kind of fly-fishing has now becoce murh rarer in what used to be the best angling regions, and the majority of anglers who wish great sport in angling now go to the warmer rivers of the North Island, in which the stronger and rainbow trout gives Them a foeman worthy of their rod and their reel."