TAIHAPE AND TROUT FISHING.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3315, 20 October 1919, Page 4

TAIHAPE AND TROUT FISHING.

Th'cl'c was a time when nearly every man who ‘rook out a fishing or s'hoo'ting license thought it ine.umbent:'li'pon him to become ,3, member of his‘ local .Ac(=lAi:matiSa.tion Society. On taking out a license he at bnce became interested in keeping uf well-’s’tocked rivers" with

healthy fish, or a. lan‘dsc-ape well supplied with game,,wing_ed, and otherwise. But there is an amazing indifference displayed as to who looks after sporting interests, and whereby the sport is kept possible; the -grealt. majority of ligense-holders now do the grouchiug and criticising if game and fish are not as plentiful rag they would like, while the very few do all the work. One is inclined to ask who are the “sports, " the grouchers or the workers‘? It seems to be merely a.'l-ogical sequence that when once a man becomes so much a sportsman as to invest in a. license, he should invest a further five shillings and become a. menrber of the body that controls sport in his district, and so have a potent voice in the provision of fish and game by which sport becomes possible. VV? would like to impress upon fish sportsmen that in the mountain rivers “of ‘the large ‘Tvaihape territory,’ they have the ideal waters’ for producing the Very fincst fishing in New Zealand. This district could be made a. Mecca for the fishers of the world, without in any way injuring it for local sports, if all who take. out a license would also take an interest ‘in stocking our .sti‘e.anls with such fish as find their -natural habitat in mountain streams and lakes, instead of with the less agile kinds. Fontin-ales and .i-ain~-bow should be pushing the old, somewllatAs_luggish brown trout out of fashion in our sltrearms, owing to their livelier and more acrobaatic performances when hrooked. Nothing beats the thrill that a pound weight fontinalis in good condition can give when it goes through ‘its first performances :af*t‘er finding its liberty contested with 21 tiny hook and an almost invisible line. The desire for the establishment of breed--3 ing troughs for raising fry in ‘the disE trict has been expressed. If the right ‘ situation is selected, the cost of a‘ breed. ling shed is iusignificent, and there seems to be no reason why a few well- | conditioned fish should not be stripped i in this district and so avoid the loss of l fry and yearlings't.hat is sustainecl year i after year in railway transit from other districts, some of which are’ less well adapted for pisci-cul'tur‘e than Taihape 3 is. If every licensed fisher would join , the Acclazmatisation Society there might be. established a breeding she'd, which i only needs a situation-where xvzaeter can be got at one end from :1. high level, and discharged at the other on a lower level tlmn that of ‘the boxes in which the ova are developed. We- would urge upon fishermen and businessmen the usefulness of such a small breeding house, as it would eventually be the cause of a continuous pnocession of visitors to spend money in ‘the town, while gratify‘ing their Sporting _pro(j,liVitieS along the bunks of our niountain streams, stocked with those breeds of fish that give the greatest amount: of trouble to get. successfully out of the water. There are plenty of the very best class of “spol'ts”‘a:nlongst this ‘district's farm. ing community, any one of which would doub'tless place the small area, in suitable position, at thedisposal of the “Acelimatisation Society for the purpose of fislibreeding and rearing. Will not all license-holders j'oin up with the Association, to achieve the u‘fmost that is possible in connection with the sport‘?