Arthur. — On the Brown Trout introduced into Otago. 487 



The Pomahaka River is a very large tributary of the Clutha Eiver, rising 

 in the snowy ranges of the Umbrella Mountains and flowing in a south- 

 easterly direction. It is, therefore, without the trap region, unless towards 

 its mouth, and is partly snow-fed during the summer, besides being 

 frequently muddy from the gold-mining operations on its upper waters. 

 Possessing numerous gravelly reaches it is a good breeding water, but it is 

 a late river, and its fish take a long time to get up in condition in the 

 summer. Occasionally the trout in it are of good quality, but as a rule 

 they are not to be compared in that respect with those of the Waiwera or 

 Waipahi. In colour they are light and silvery. Night fishing with minnow 

 is very successful, but any lure may be used during the day. The stomachs 

 of those trout which I have opened I found contained larvae, creepers, 

 beetles, whelks, minnows, crayfish, and small stones, but the whitebait are 

 very plentiful also in this river. There are quite a number of records of 

 fishing in my possession, but one may suffice to mention, that of Mr. 

 Elliott. During the summer and autumn of 1882-83 he had three blank 

 days, 23 good days, and caught 135 trout, weiging 236^ lbs., or 5-2 trout 

 daily of an average weight of 1-75 lbs. The largest trout that I know of 

 was 7 lbs. and caught by an angler in 1882, but one of 6^ lbs., taken in 

 1879, gives a yearly rate of growth of 1-08 lbs., which is probably as much 

 as can be expected in the Pomahaka. 



Of the interior streams and lakes where fish have been taken the 

 Waitahuna, Teviot, Manuherikia, Butel's Creek, Lochy, and Wakatipu 

 Lake, also the Oreti Eiver merit a little notice. 



The Waitahuna can only be fished in its upper parts owing to pollutions 

 from gold-mining. It flows from the Lammerlaw Mountains behind the 

 town of Lawrence over a slate and gneiss formation in a south-east and then 

 a south-west direction till it joins the Clutha. It has good spawning beds, 

 trout are numerous but not large, rather poor in condition, but take fly 

 readily, and are good eating. The. result of two half days in November, 

 1881, when I fished it, the water being in splendid order, was 15 trout, 

 weighing 8| lbs. gross, no trout being over a pound or so. This is a fair 

 sample of its fishing capabilities, but the largest fish taken was one of 4ilbs. 

 by Mr. Coghill in October, 1879, and I have heard of other large ones being 

 seen. As trout were first put into the Waitahuna in 1875, the yearly 

 growth of Mr. Coghill's fish would be 1-12 lbs. Stomachs opened by me 

 showed flies, shellfish, larvae, creepers, crayfish, and small stones as their 

 contents. In colour these trout are silvery. 



The Teviot River is a small tributary of the Clutha Eiver which rises in 

 the Lammerlaw Mountains and after flowing in a westerly course through 

 rocky gorges joins the Clutha at Eoxburgh. Its rocky bed is formed of 



