220 FISHES 



Mr Dansey tells me that brown trout fry obtained from the 

 Tauranga Society were liberated in Lake Rotorua in 1889, where 

 they multiplied and throve wonderfully in spite of the huge flocks of 

 shags that then infested the Lake, and which were quite capable of 

 swallowing with ease a J-lb. trout, and of the immense numbers 

 caught by the natives in nets at the mouths of streams ; specimens up 

 to 22 lb. were not at all uncommon. Those caught in the Lake had 

 a muddy flavour ; their principal food appeared to be young cray- 

 fish. 



The shags soon learned how to catch them. From Kawaha Point, on 

 a calm sunny morning, I have watched a mob of over 200 shags away out 

 on the lake, suddenly take wing, light again on the water near the western 

 shore where it is shallow for a considerable distance out. They would 

 spread themselves out in a long line — at apparently correct intervals apart — 

 and all swim quietly towards the shore, the ends of the line gradually 

 bending inwards. Suddenly, as if by some given signal, the whole line 

 would dive, and every shag reappear with a trout in its beak. These 

 tactics were only undertaken when the sun was at a certain altitude to, 

 I suppose, cast the shadow of the birds at a certain angle on the sandy 

 bottom, and thus drive the fish towards the shore into shallower water. 

 The sight impressed me very much at the time. 



Mr Dansey states that brown trout afford little sport to anglers 

 except in unpleasant weather. He further adds that: 



Brown trout are now only occasionally seen or caught in the Rotorua 

 Lake. They commenced to disappear after the introduction of the Rainbow. 

 Some ascribe this disappearance to the fact that the two species spawn at a 

 different time ; for the Rainbow, being a much stronger and more active 

 fish, disturbed the Brown when thus engaged, and the ova failed to be 

 fertilised. I have never seen a cross between a Brown and a Rainbow 

 Trout ; but I have between a Brown and a Fontinalis, with the red spots 

 enlarged to the size of a threepenny piece^. 



1 The relative merits of different kinds of trout for inland waters are thus 

 recorded by Ernest Phillips in Trout in Lakes and Reservoirs (p. 36). " I have a 

 record of a reservoir in which 6000 fish were put down, all two years old. There 

 were 2000 brown, 2000 Levens, and 2000 rainbows. The next season we started 

 fishing, knowing there were 6000 trout to go at. The season's catch was 450 brown 

 trout, 301 Loch Levens, and only 85 rainbows. The brown trout and the Levens 

 were much alike, many of them up to i lb. each, and a few over, but all the rainbows 

 were i lb., several reached 2 lbs., and a few were actually 2i lbs. It will be seen, 

 therefore, that the brown trout provided the best and the most consistent sport. 

 Rainbows gave the heaviest fish, but they were erratic and disappointing. They 

 would be on the feed for a day or two and then vanish from view, and it was no 

 uncommon experience for a whole week to elapse and not a single rainbow be 

 returned to the keeper's list, though fifty or more of the other two varieties were 

 caught in the same length of time. As for Loch Levens, I believe it is a fact that 

 they do not grow to as great a weight as brown trout or rainbows, and that a fish 

 of 4 to s lbs. is a monster. At any rate, searching through another keeper's book 

 and taking a period of five years to allow for good and bad seasons, I find that only 

 60 Levens were killed over 2 lbs. as against 225 brown trout, and 74 rainbows." 



