in Fishing in the Hauraki Gulf 5 1 



lived in — to compare his shifting tints with the 

 exquisite bright sapphire blue of the sea before me, 

 tints so delicate and dainty that I knew not what to 

 liken them to except a certain sheening, shimmering, 

 lissom silk robe, half green, half blue, and flecked 

 with gold, seen long ago — right through the world ! 

 ' Of course " Tom Thurnall " is right, the best fish- 

 ing in the world is for Whitbury trout with a single- 

 handed " Chevalier." But I don't turn up my nose 

 at Mr. Briggs, and really fine rod-fishing may be 

 had in the more sheltered creeks and bays of the 

 Hauraki Gulf, if you will condescend to a species of 

 harling or trolling over the stern of a small boat. 

 Equip yourself with a good eighteen or twenty foot 

 salmon rod, a hundred yards of good salmon line, 

 and a good spoon, and get some good fellow-soul 

 who loves decking a fish to paddle you round the 

 rocky points just as the flood - tide is beginning 

 to make, and then, especially if you have the good 

 luck to be in that most glorious of harbours Port 

 Abercrombie — Lord ! to hear the air there ring- 

 ing with the notes of the bell-birds and tuis in 

 the sweet, fresh, misty mornings — you will have 

 sport which will make you forget for the moment 

 even the Tay itself. Mind ! I don't for one moment 

 mean to compare the sport which can be had out of 

 a boat to that you get by artfully casting your fly 

 into pit swirls and runs, — that, I think, would be 

 absurd, — but for boat fishing it can hardly be beaten. 

 And some of this harling is carried on in the midst 



