LINE AND TRIGGER

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 683, 9 April 1903, Page 6

LINE AND TRIGGER

The anglers in Florida have plenty of variety in their fishing as the following list of fish actually caught will show :— Ten Pounder, Pound Fish, Flounder, Leather Fish, Vermillion Fish, Angel Fish, Moon Fish, Star Fish, Shad, Tang, Snapper, Pork Fish, Turbot, Hog Fish, Eel, Sailor’s Choice, Butter Fish, Walking Fish, Mutton Fish, Shovel-nose Shad, Sea Urchins, Toad ’Fish, Cow Fish, Hawk’s Bill Turtle, Porcupine, or Ajog, Shell Fish.

Mr C. Walker caught nine trout at the mouth of the Ashburton river recently, the heaviest turning the scale at twelve pounds. One of )them took fully half-an-hour to land. These fish were caught on the fly, and are said to be the largest ever caught on the fly in the Ashburton river.

The quality of gimp available for fishing nowadays is by no means what it used to be.' One has to buy the G. string of a (fiddle to make sure of getting a first-class article. Gimp or phospherbronze wire is largely required for modern angling, but few know how to handle or tie 'it. To lie put on a hook' well, gimp should be lashed on with silk. There is not much trouble in putting it on a ringed hook, but. few people care for ringed hooks, which are bulky and heavy. There are a few simple twists and turns which anyone can» learn from, a cheap of knots, ties, and splices obtainable for about one shilling at. any bookseller’s.

The “ Sportsmen’s Review,” publishes an excellent photograph and biography of Mr F. Freeman Lloyd, who passed through here some time since on route for Philadelphia, where he had been appointed judge at; the big Dog Show. Mr Lloyd now conducts the kennel department of the “ Morning Telegraph,” New York, and is also special correspondent of the Sydney “ Morning Herald,” and “ The Stock.keeper,” of London.

The League of American Sportsmen has a membership of over nine thousand, with division in forty-five states and territories. A League formed on the same lines for New Zealand would be of much benefit of sportsmen in the colony.

The big shoot organised by the Ellerslie Gun Club for Easter is attracting a lot of attention. There are twenty-seven gentlemen in the handicap, and the list includes the names of all the best shots in the Auckland district. Messrs C. H. Chevannes, Mat. .Roseingrave, and 0. H. Gannett make a very formidable trio on the back marks. There should be an excellent muster on April 15 to see who pulls oil the £5O prize.

The large silver jewfish of the Hawkesbury has many seekers (writes “ Glaucus ”), chief amongst them being the professional hand-liners of the district. Many splendid jewfish are taken during the autumn in the river, the men showing a great deal of persinacity in following the big fellows. They have a hard task locating them, and, as each man fishes practically on his own, if one boat drops' on to the fish, there are a dozen rumours as to the exact spot. The man' who gets a haul one day has to. dodge his lynx-eyed brethren next day. Some rather amusing tricks are played by the professionals upon one another. If a man gets half-a-dozen boomers one day, lie may make £2 for his day’s work, and can afford to lay low for a day or so if he likes. Usually he does like, for • your professional exhausts himself when he has had a decent day, and wants to relieve the drought for a week. It is when a successful man goes out that the fun begins. He may have caught his fish on the Long Shore, but he sets sail for Milson’s Island, and somebody is bound to follow him. Then the dance begins. The first man takes the others all over the place, and often succeeds in bluffing them off before he ventures to the spot where he caught the fish the previous day. This sort of trick is frequently played.