274 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



river is very much out of the way and necessitates a camp outfit, 

 it is not overfished, and indeed only visited two or three times 

 a season, by generally the same party, which party four rods 

 during last Christmas week landed eighty fish, averaging 

 over 4 Ibs.* 



We had very wet and cloudy weather for some time, and I, in 

 my ignorance of local affairs, thought a dull sky a favourable 

 condition for fishing, but this was not so here. A bright, warm, 

 sunny, still day was what we wanted and the clearest water ; 

 there were insects about then and none on dull days ; one could 

 easily see the fish, for no fly is ever thrown here at haphazard, 

 never until a desirable trout has been marked down. To see a 

 fish in the deeper water requires great practice it was an art I 

 failed in miserably ; but Mr. C. and the Maori boy could find a 

 trout in almost any amount of even disturbed water. In some 

 parts the river ran between low banks bare of brush, and here 

 the fish was almost difficult of approach ; in others it rushed and 

 swirled among rocks and boulders, the white foam and spray in 

 lovely contrast with the deep and lighter blues of the clear 

 water, grass banks, which in such places, thanks to more 

 abundant moisture, were beautifully green, with flax, cabbage 

 palms, high manuka and other bush, toi-toi grass with its 

 waving plumes, tree and other ferns, a lovely variety of foliage, 

 and all sharply reflected in the river. The extreme shyness of 

 the fish in the clear water renders necessary the very finest 

 tackle, line, cast and fly, which entails unfortunately the risk of 

 breaking with a big trout. The fish, indeed, have to be handled 

 with the very greatest care, and a fish hooked is not by any 

 means to be counted as already in the bag. Verily, there are 

 many troubles in store for the fisherman, who, himself unseen 

 behind the fish, must cast upstream in front of the trout, and 

 most carefully ; the wind is but too often very troublesome ; it 

 will not allow the line to go out properly, or cause it to splash 

 and so frighten the game, and the line or hook catches in bush 

 or a rock in the river. A big species of manuka grows on the 

 banks, each branch of which at this season of the year is covered 

 with dense rows of rough berries like peppercorns, a most 

 irritating vegetable, for it has the greatest affection for one's 

 line. To clear the latter is almost impossible. The more you 



* Brown. 



