TROUT IN WAIKATO.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3036, 31 December 1891, Page 2

TROUT IN WAIKATO.

The presence of trout in our Waikato streams will certainly have tho effect of bringing visitors into these parts. There are very few people who are not fond of fishing, ami as the trout affords the keenest sport to anglers next to the salmon, to bo able to obtain a good day's sport a few hours' journey out. of Auckland will assuredly add another very gr -at. charm to the residence in this part of the colony. Mr Cheeseman's reply herewith to a communication addressed to him, asking for certain information in connection with the time when tho trout wero fir-t introduced, etc., will bo read with interest: —

I was much pleased and gratified to receive the additional evidence furnished by your letter of tho 11th in.st., as to the existence of trout in the Waikato. I believe in a very few years the whole of the ntr inns from Oxford to Lichfield will give very good trout fishing, for (herepoits we are now receiving are most encouraging, iiurl when tliH fish are once established in the .streams their rate of increase is usually most rapid. I cannot quite tell yon when trout were first placed in the streams near Oxford, for I believe that Mr Geotfr.-y Maclean, when living near Paeroi, was the first to introduce them. He obtained ova from the Society, hatched it at Paeron, nnd then distributed the young fish in the l'okaiwhenua and some other streams 3 >wing into the Waikato, and I believe also in tho O'aka, close to Oxford. Probably ISB3 or ISB4 would be about the time; but it is very doubtful if any success attended his efforts, for he made the same mist ike that wo were making at the time—that is, liberat-'d his fish when they were much t"o younir, and, consequently, unable to fight against the many enomies t > he found in our streams. Our Hrst Rainbow trout were placed in tho Oraka and Wannakiriri in lStili, and since then, with the exception of one season, wo have yearly placed large numbers of young fish in the network of streams to be found in the I'llßlock, and. which drain either into the Thames cr Waikato. They have all been nine-months-old fish, and, consequently, old enough to tako caro of themselves. As they breed when three years old, it is tolerably certain that fry must exist in some nf tho streams, the result of the breeding of the fish therein. Bui for the nresent wo intend to yearly di-tribute additional lots, with the view "f making success doubly certain. X do not think it is generally known in tho Waikato that trout fishing can now legally be carriod on. provided thai, the angler provides himself with a license from the Society. Hitherto we have said little about thereports that have bean conveyed to us of people fishing near Oxford and Lichfield and catching trout ; but. now that the fish are becoming more plentiful, we shall have to enforce the strict letter of the law, and ask the angler to pay the licen-io which is usual in all other parts of New Zealand— viz., AM. This license entitles the beaivr to fish anywhere in New Z'a'and in the months from October Ist to April 30th. Licenses can bo obtained on application lo myself. We are .'tjoutappointing a resident ranger at Oxford to look after the streams and nr"Wt r.nr io'eie-its, If wo can get ail additional source of income in this way it is our intention to establish a fresh hatching and fish-breeding establishment., capable of turning out 100,000 fry yearly. Tho problem of stocking our streams then bo quickly solved. j