Whitebaiters had a successful start to the season on the Clutha River but river banks in the rest of the region were mostly empty.
The whitebait season began on Saturday with Clutha River whitebaiters catching about 250g to 450g, which was not "too bad a start to the season", Department of Conservation freshwater ranger Pete Ravenscroft said.
"It's a promising start but it is impossible to predict."
Traditionally, Otago whitebaiters did not catch anything for about the first three weeks of the season.
Cooler weather and the unlikely chance of catching whitebait probably kept many people away from the river bank on opening day, he said.
