White gold deliver simple feast if you know where to find them
The whitebait season opened on Wednesday and the first hopefuls were no doubt down on the river bank checking for signs of the little fish.
Once a resource so plentiful that surplus whitebait were fed to chickens or dug into the vegetable garden as fertiliser, ‘ bait has become a rare delicacy, a luxury for those who have to buy it. In Auckland supermarkets you can pay $ 25 for 100 grams, equating to $ 250 a kilo. And that is only enough for a couple of miserable fritters that will be more flour and egg than fish.
A true whitebait fritter, according to the aficionados, will have just enough separated egg white to bind the tiny fish. Add a dash of salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice and you have a dish fit for royalty. And whitebait is usually on the menu when royalty does make the journey from London.
The term whitebait is a generic one, applied to myriad tiny fish all over the world. An imported variety is available in the frozen food sections, but are tasteless when compared to the real thing. Buyer beware.
In this country the term covers the juveniles of several different species of the galaxiid family, named after the Milky Way for the scattering of white spots along their flanks. Also known as kokopu there is the banded kokopu ( the most common), koaro, the very rare short- jawed kokopu, giant kokopu and dwarf kokopu. The inanga, which is common in rivers like the Waikato, is also included in the whitebait family.
It is the conversion of native bush to grassland and the deterioration in water quality that has contributed to the demise of the different families, along with the destruction of reeds and grasses by grazing stock along river banks where the adult fish lay their eggs. Their reproduction is a fascinating story: the adults live secretive lives hiding under banks in dark pools deep in the bush. In autumn these fish, which may be only 10cm long, journey down to the estuarine waters of their natal rivers and streams, to deposit bunches of eggs covered in a protective sticky membrane on overhanging grasses inundated by the highest tide of the month. They remain high and dry until washed by the next high tide when they hatch and the hatchlings are swept out to sea where they grow quickly in the nutrient- rich salt walter.
Predators exact a heavy toll, and the survivors return in spring to the fresh water to migrate up the rivers to repeat the process. It is these returning juveniles which whitebaiters search for so eagerly, and they are joining sea- run trout, kahawai and birds which feast on the long, thin fish which are poor swimmers. Theories abound as to the best fishing times, but an incoming tide is acknowledged as the trigger when the fish use the surging current to combat the river currents. Moon phases and weather all come into the equation as discussion rages around a jug in the local pub. But when everything comes together, and the net is raised bulging with the ‘ white gold’ the smiles are unstoppable. Stories of catches of a hundred kilos become instant legends. Whitebait fishing is administered by DoC because they are native fish and unlike other fishing there is no limit to the catch and the delicacies can be sold without a licence. But there are rules, and the season runs through to November 30 and fishing is permitted from 5am to 8pm, and when daylight saving starts from 6am to 9pm. There is a different season for the west coast of the South Island – opening on September 1 and closing on November 14. Nets may not cover more than a third of a stream or river, to allow room for fish to swim upstream safely, and the size of nets is also limited. Bite times are 9.45am and 10.15pm today and 10.45am and 11.15pm tomorrow. More fishing action can be found at GTTackle. co. nz The winter fishing this year has been great – when you can get out. The weather has made it hard as the better fishing is well offshore in most areas and the wind rarely allows boats to get out wide. In the Hauraki Gulf there are plenty of work- ups and concentrations of fish in the middle of the gulf, but it is exposed to windy conditions. If the season follows the usual pattern snapper will start congregating in schools prior to spawning, with males gathering in groups. They can be identified by the rusty, dark red marking under the throat which develops before spawning. The actual spawning starts when water temperatures reach 18 degrees and can continue from November through to February as snapper are serial spawners. This is the time of year when winter anglers target gurnard in west coast harbours but, again, the weather determines when fishing is feasible. One trick is to use a red flasher rig with small hooks and put a sinker above the swivel attaching the trace to the line so that when the rig is dropped it lies along the seabed. A small sinker at the bottom end ensures all the hooks are close to the bottom.