Season mixed bag for longtime whitebaiter

The pick of spots and buckets of experience does not always necessarily fill the whitebait pail for Neri Wall.

The last day of the two-month season was yesterday and Mr Wall said the season was very much a mixed bag.

There had been some good returns and also some days to forget.

Yesterday was a great day on the Taieri River at Henley — calm, the sun was out and Mr Wall, 77, appeared to have the whitebait heading towards his net.

"I started coming here about 1980 and then I went up the road and have been here ever since," he said.

"I don’t know what it is, but the whitebait start coming in. Stands beside me don’t seem to do quite as well. I managed to get 3kg one day this year, so that was great.

"The best year I had was when I changed and got a southern sock. I went down to the Clutha and they were using those and catching heaps, so I went and got one and did the same."

Mr Wall said he had been told the Clutha River had recorded good catches.

"I’ll have enough for a feed for myself and the family and enough to put in the freezer and give them to the whanau when I go up north. They like them up there.

"But I’ve had plenty of lean years. I remember going home and the wife asked how many I got. I said six. She said ‘6kg?’ I said ‘no, six whitebait’."

Reports had been mixed from other stands, although Mr Wall admitted truth was always in short supply when people talked whitebait catches.

On the West Coast, good catches were reported in the first half of the season, especially in South Westland rivers, but continual rain and flooded rivers put paid to the rest of the season, the Greymouth Star reported.