Hokitika and South Westland rivers enjoyed the best of the West Coast whitebait season, which closes on Monday.
Elsewhere, many whitebaiters have already called it a day and Buller’s poor season has been called "a tragedy for the town".
Peter Campion, a long-time Hokitika whitebaiter, said while the weather had been against them, the Hokitika River had fished well.
"I wouldn’t say there were big catches, although there may have been some in the middle [channel] but it wasn’t too bad," Mr Campion said.
South Westland had a far better season.
"On the Arawhata River and the Cascade there were some pretty good catches, while even further south at Big Bay they were even better," Haast whitebaiter Helen Rasmussen said.
Many had packed up at Haast earlier than normal but that was because they had as much as they wanted, not because there were no fish.
"I did hear of a couple of 300kg-plus catches but that was the exception rather than the rule. Everywhere else catches were smaller but rivers are fishing consistently."
It was a different story in Westport and Greymouth.
Lynley Roberts, who has fished on the Buller River for 50 years, said she had never had such a bad season.
"It’s dreadful. I go whitebaiting every day with two others, and between us we were lucky to catch a quarter of a pound," Ms Roberts said.
"It has been awful and is a tragedy for the town. People who would have normally sold their catches and used the money for their Christmas shopping, won’t be able to."
Karamea had also had a "terrible" season, according to Ray Douglas.
"In fact it was shocking — one of the worst on record."
The West Coast season opens on September 1, two weeks later than the rest of New Zealand and closes two weeks earlier.
- Viv Logie
