TAUPO TROUT

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 50, 24 December 1952, Page 7

TAUPO TROUT

(To the Editor)

Sir, — Whilst in entire sympathy with " Onlooker's" desire for bigger and better troup in Lake Taupo, I would suggest that the particular European fish, which have been selected, are not the most suiHible for stocking purposes. Admittedly the following remarks are generalisations but:- — (a) Bleak (Albumus Lucidus) is essentiaily a river fish and seldom exceeds a few ounces in weight. (b) Dace (L. Leuciscus), also riverine, frequents fast gravelly streams. A 4 lb fish is a good one. (c) Rudd (Scardius Erythropthalmus) prefers quiet, weedy lakes, feeding mainly upon gammarids and caddis larvae. Not surface swimming. (d) Roach (R. Rutilus). Deep, weedy waters where it lives close to the bottom, although like most fish it will occasionally take surface food. It is, moreover, an axiom that to provide fish for food, you must provide food for those fish and, unless they are largely plankton-feeding like the smelt, it would be necessary fo establish vast weed beds in the areas where nature has so far failed to do so. I think I am correct in saying that fcoth " Inanga" (G. Attenuatus) and " Kokopu" (G. Fasciatus) are still present in considerable numbers and whilst I am not competent to discuss &ie relative food values of Galaxidae and smelt, the latter are swimming around in their millions and there can be no doubt of their appeal to the frout.^ If, as I assume, " Onlooker's" critidsm refers to the fish at the inoment, surely this lack of condition is due directly to biological causes and not to any scarcity of or deficiency in diet? The apparent decrease in the average weight of fish over recent years must be a matter for scientific investigation, and it is obviously very much in our own interests to provide the authorities with the information upon which to base their findings. Finally, a plea for the poor old *slab." Please do not boot him up and down the beach, but, whenever possible, unhook in the water," otherwise cut out the hook with a sharp knife. In the majority of cases the fish is a kelt and — if unharmed — will regain condition before the end of the season. I am, etc., " RED SPINNER "