484 MODERN SEA FISHING 



sand-whiting, in shape and colour not unlike our own grayling, 

 and for which we could fish with fine tackle, rod, and creel 

 regularly slung. New Zealand and Tasmania are equally good 

 for the sea angler. 



In the old days in New Zealand, before there were any trout, 

 the military officers varied their routine duty among the war- 

 like Maori with such sports as they could obtain, and those who 

 were near the coast soon learned the game qualities of the kawai, 

 locally termed New Zealand salmon, at the mouth of the Waikato, 

 which is now one of the best of New Zealand trout streams, 

 tenanted by huge Salmonidae introduced from Tasmania, and 

 descendants of some of our British strains. An officer of 

 the 68th Light Infantry as far back as the fifties gained quite 

 a reputation by his prowess in fishing for the kawai with large 

 salmon flies. Even up the river itself he took the smaller fish, 

 which are locally called ' shoal kawai,' and which seem to be 

 the grilse of the larger fish. Tauranga, in the Bay of Plenty, is 

 probably the best place on the coast for kawai. They come in 

 from the sea in numbers, and run to large size. They may 

 be taken best with spinning bait, natural or artificial, and are a 

 stock means of sport to white and brown man alike. 



The Maoris themselves are keen and clever fishermen, and 

 have from time immemorial used the rude hooks of charred 

 wood or bone found amongst all eastern peoples. When the use 

 of metal became known, and long before our modern barbed 

 hooks were invented, barbless hooks were made from nails and 

 other iron scraps. In fishing for kawai there were long shanks 

 slightly bent to accommodate the shell baits which were lashed 

 on with native flax, the flashing of the pearl being evidently the 

 attraction to the fish. The spoon used in civilised countries 

 for pike and salmon is but a development of this style. Even 

 when barbed hooks were introduced the Maoris cut them off 

 on the plea that they were too much bother to extract when 



