Angling.

From the angler's point of view Canterbury is one of the most delightful countries in the world. The size and weight of colonial trout was for many years among English anglers a subject for contemptuous derision; but the stories of twenty-pounders are now so well authenticated that many sceptical fishermen having been tempted hither, have come, seen, and been conquered, Not only do trout grow here to a size undreamt of in England, but the number of the streams and the great quantity of fish that they contain make Canterbury in good seasons a veritable angler's paradise.

All necessary particulars about the trout of Canterbury and their ways can be gathered from the work on New Zealand trout fishing by the late Mr. W. H. Spackman, himself a Canterbury man, and a most enthusiastic angler. The chief rivers famous for their fishing are: the Hurunui, fair fly fishing, nine miles from Waikari; the Ashley, good sport with either minnow or live bait, four miles from Rangiora; the Waimakariri, about twelve miles from the mouth up, for either minnow or live bait, good accommodation at Kaiapoi and Belfast; the Selwyn, fine live bait fishing, about six miles from Springston station. (Here anglers camp out, where the river runs into Lake Ellesmere, so as to get the fish feeding in the morning.) The upper course of the river in the Whitecliffs district swarms with fish, of a smaller size. The Rakaia, full of fish, is about six miles from Southbridge—best fishing near the mouth; the Ashburton, good sport from the township to the mouth; the Rangitata, fine fishing ground at the mouth; the Orari, too clear for the fly, but a good minnow river; the Waihi, the Kakahu, and the Temuka are good fly streams. (These last five rivers and the Opihi are most easily fished from Winchester.) The Opihi, four miles from Winchester, is probably the best all round trout stream in New Zealand. In good season page 60 it teems with fish of great size and fine quality, and has about ten miles of fishing, from Pleasant Point to the sea. The Pareora, a good minnow stream, is seven miles from Timaru; the Waitaki—the mouth, the best ground—may be fished from Waitaki township, and the upper waters from Duntroon, and has many large fish, which take the minnow well.

In almost all of these streams there is the chance of a trout anywhere between five pounds and twenty pounds in weight; though, of course, the monsters of the race are comparatively rare. Still, almost every Canterbury river is now a trout stream, and though fish of twelve pounds and fifteen pounds are seldom killed in the Avon, it is, like most of the other accessible rivers, industriously “whipped” all through the season.