Rain saves whitebait as fishers stay away
Joss Carter is waiting for the weather to fine up so she can finish a book she started reading last year.
‘‘The only time I get to read is when I’m whitebaiting,’’ the caretaker of Kaupokonui Beach Camp said.
Carter spent six hours on Tuesday, opening day of the whitebaiting season, but only caught ‘‘enough for some small fritters for tea’’.
It’s her third season running the camp, and the spell of wet weather is making it a slow start to what’s usually a busy time.
The riverbank beside the camp was deserted yesterday, but it was usually bustling with whitebaiters, she said.
‘‘Next week we’ll have half the camp full of whitebaiters.’’
Brian Collins, who makes and sells whitebait nets at Collins Sports Centre in Opunake, said he made a fairly fruitless trip to Mokau on opening day.
‘‘We got about a quarter of a cup for six hours’ work.’’
When rivers were flooded, the whitebait struggled to swim upstream.
‘‘As far as big catches, I’ve heard nothing yet. But whitebaiters being whitebaiters, if someone has had a good catch they’re probably not going to tell me anyway,’’ he laughs.
‘‘Other fishermen will come back in and skite about what they’ve caught. Whitebaiters keep it pretty quiet, and they’ll hide their catches. If they start running, it doesn’t take long for word to get around. You can be there by yourself one day then fighting for the best spots the next day.’’
He said the best of the season was yet to come.
‘‘The whitebait don’t usually start running until late September, early October, that’s when they come up the local rivers. By that stage most people have got discouraged because they haven’t been catching much, they’ve given up before the season really starts.’’
The stormy weather would not stop some people.
‘‘There’s one guy I know who is out there from dawn to dusk, he sits there all day hoping for something to come up. Some people get addicted to it. They’ll start talking about their previous big runs they got, and they forget the days when they just got a quarter cup, or just two or three whitebait.’’
Meanwhile, Viv Walker, who works at the Whitebait Inn in Mokau, is raring to go.
‘‘It’s only just the beginning of the season, so there’s probably not a lot being caught.
‘‘I don’t care if it’s freezing, a friend has lent me a stand and from Saturday I’ll be going every chance I get.’’