ANGLING NOTES.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 35, 12 November 1920, Page 4

ANGLING NOTES.

(By "Creel").

(By A. H. Stock).

HE WAS A GOOD 'UN. "He was a good 'uri, but I lost him," You '11 hear the angler say. The sceptic langhs, and turns, and winks away, "I've heard that tale from another, in fact the other day. ' The man I mean, I don't mind telling you, Was chairman of this champion ananias crew, The tales he toki of fishes, would make you quite blue, And the beauty of his stories was, lxe'd say they were "too true/' Well I met him, on a real good fishing day, And he whisked me in his motor, to a stream not far away, And he started in right fishing, in his usual thorough way, When he hooked a fish or something and shouted out "Hooray." I dashed up with excitement, keen to see the jolly fun, But I got there as he lost him, I heard him say, "good 'un," But he only smiled, and said something about it "being in the game." Restarted fishing with great zeal, his luck to try again. He wasn't fishing very long, when he caught another trout, And this time he was a good 'un, and he really got him out. And your story of your good 'un, well, yes, I think 1*11 shout, For I really think you did, yes, hook him, when the good fish were about. — By ' ' v reel. ' '

Last week-end the bulk of the rivers were high and dirty, eonsequently the fiy and minnow fishers were restricted in their"operations. Some fair bags, I understand, were taken on the worm or ' snake." Mr T. Meadows, fishing with the minnow at the mouth of the Waikiwi, lanoed three fish the following weight : — 51b lOozs. , 51b 9ozs., and 21b lOozs respectively. Messrs Hoffman and Baldwin for their last week-end on the New River gecured 19 fish, the heaviest weighin.g 4-jlbs, and on the Makarewa, 3 fish — two 4-pound-ers, and one two pound. Natural bully and smelt was the bait used. These two anglers left at our cffice a very nice Makarewa trout for one of the staff. In a series of tosses for the coveted prize the editor and "Jacques" had the final toss and— "Jacques" lost. At Lochiel on the New River, Messrs Banjo Patterson, T. Hansen, and W. Pearse (schoolmaster), have been catching some good bags on the fly and minnow. They report there are plenty of fish in tlie i*iver. A party of local anglers visited the Waimatuku, but were only moderateiy successful, although one or two good fish were hooked they were not "baggecl." A local fly fisherman at the iron birdge creeled some twenty nice fish in splentnd condition. The heaviest fish weighed two pounds.

Mr John Penny canght four nice "Sn in the sarne locality on the worm. I am pleased to report that the Gore anglers have taken steps to inaugurate a club, and representatives from the Southland clubs were invited to attend a meeting. A full report of the function will appear in next week's "Digger." Triangular Fly Competition. — This competition, which was arranged for the 10th inst, on account of the Oreti not being in good fly order, has had to be postponed until Wednesday, 24th inst. TROUT REARING. (NATURAL— ARTIFICIAL).

It has occurred to me that, possibly, amongst the readers of your Angling Notes there may be a certain section who know a trout only as a "finished" a.rticle, but nothing about the transition between its hirth and maturity. I hope, therefore, that persual of the following will enahle them to recognise that it takes time to build up a good hcad of fish. in a river or stream, and therelore any unlawful interference should De resented especially by all anglers. Let ua fixst look at "natural" rearing. When "spawning" time approaches, trout usually maka upstream where they will find graVelly reachee in which to maka their nests or "redds" ag usually termed. When the female is ready to spawn, she

makes a furrow in the shingle by rolling about and dislodging the stones with blows from her tail fin. She then deposits a portion of her ripe eggs in this furrow, ■ whereupon the male pours some of his . "milt" upon them. The whole operation of spawning is not done at once, but . is continucd at other chosen sites. SpawnI, mg finished, both fish are wea-k and in poor condition through the drain thereby \ on their vitality, but gradually recover, especially wher© food is pelntiful. J| . — Fertilisation of Ova. — I need not describe the appearance of the eggs or milt as anglers who catch fish towards the end of the fishing season s^know both, but these facts must be mentioned. On the surface of each egg is a minute orifice called microphile, which i allows the entrance of the spermatozoa . (minute organisms contained in the milt), withcut which it would remain unfertilized and consequently barren. . The eggs, when first shed, are soft, but rapidly absorb water which fills up the space between the outer shell and its delicate inner lining, and as soon as this period of absorption has passed by (reckoned at 30 vminutes) it is impossible for the eggs to be fertilized. Spermatozoa (of which the milt is most- , ly comprised) do not live long when subjected to the action of water, consequently only a small percentage of naturally "spawned eggs can be fertilized. The fertilized eggs hatch out at varying periods, determined by the temperature of '-the water (75 days for water 41 degrees Fahr. — warmer water sooner). Now first look at these facts and you "will soon see that if the stocking of waters had to be left to natural spawning alone, what a lot would be required to make up for the losser caused by eggs being swept away by the water during spawning period instead of dropping into the redd, ,and even when there, not all fertilized, being preyed upon whilSt there by all their natural enemies; silting over or being swept away through floods, or death through loss of water altogether. And to all this wastage may justlj be added the toll taken off of adult fish by netting (licensed and unlicensed) and use

of explosives. But for the "artificial" reproduction as practised by acclimatisation societies, tho sport of angling would soon be classed as "napoo." To deal with the subject of artificial re. production would make this article too long, so with your permission, I will conclude with "to be continued in our next."