PURSUIT OF GAME

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 December 1938, Page 16 (Supplement)

PURSUIT OF GAME

FISHING AND SHOOTING IN THE WAIRARAPA WIDE RANGE OF SPORT. ACCLIMATISATION ENTERPRISE. The Wairarapa district has many attractions for those who engage in fishing and shooting. Several of the rivers of the district are fairly well stocked with brown trout and' every year anglers patronise the streams in everincreasing - numbers. The Kourarau Dam affords a haven for rainbow trout and some splendid specimens ■ have been caught there in recent years. In the lagoons around the Wairarapa Lake perch are now well established and in fact, are working their way ■ up the Ruamahanga River, having reached as far north as Masterton. There are many fishermen who delight in securing the perch; the flesh of which is quite tasty. The catching of whitebait and flounders at the Lake also affords pleasure to many enthusiasts. For a considerable period of years Masterton has been the centre of the fish rearing activities of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, the Hatcheries in Pownall Street being the source of supply by which the rivers of "the society’s district are stocked. The hatcheries have a capacity for two million fry and every year well over a million and a half fry are distributed throughout the society’s district. Wairarapa anglers, with a view to improving the fishing in local rivers, have constructed by their own efforts and with the assistance of others by way of donations, two yearling ponds, the fish from which are being liberated in Wairarapa rivers. In this work the anglers have shown commendable enterprise of a practical nature. Sea fishing is not as attractive along the East Coast and Palliser Bay as it could be, though there are occasions at Castlepoint and at Lake Ferry when some good catches are secured. Crayfish are also to be obtained at Castlepoint and flounders at the mouth of the Whareama River.

The shooting man has a happy hunting ground at the' Wairarapa Lake, where grey and shoveller ducks and black swans abound. Every year, on the opening day of the shooting season, there is a regular battery of guns all round the Lake shores. Grey ducks may also be secured on the, rivers and backwaters of the Wairarapa. Californian quail provide fairly good sport in places but so far efforts to establish pheasants in the district have not met with great success. Rabbits are far too numerous in some localities and hares are well distributed and both these rodents provide plenty of sport. In former years the Martinborough district was regarded as the finest in New Zealand for red deer stalking. That was in the days before the deer became a pest. They are now so widely spread in the Tararuas and elsewhere that shooting restrictions have been removed. Goats are present in. places in the Tararua and Rimutaka ranges and afford good sport. It is eminently desirable that the numbers of both deer and goats should be reduced if the forest is to be saved from destruction. Wild pigs abound in bush areas on both sides of the Valley and there are enthusiasts who derive ample excitement and pleasure from this strenuous pastime. Opossums are well established in the Tararuas and are spreading throughout the district. The trapping of these animals has developed into a regular industry and is now the source of considerable income to the authorities.