The stories are as mixed as the size of the catches as another West Coast whitebait season draws to a close today.
Nets are out of the water at dusk in what has been a fair to middling season up and down the Coast, with more rainy days than fishing days.
However, there have been exceptions, with patchy good catches on at least the Grey, Hokitika and Taramakau rivers.
Many of those lining the banks of the Grey River this morning say they are disappointed with their season's catch, but although a lot were aware of some good catches.
The Greymouth Star has had reports of some whitebaiters netting between 800lb and 1000lb for the season on the Grey River, but if true they are staying quiet.
Merv Burrell, who camped on the riverside upstream of the Cobden Bridge for the whole season, said there were too many days of little or no catches.
"The season has been poor really," he said, while referring to some much bigger catches downstream of his posy.
He had noticed a lot of whale bait and smelt -- usually a sign of the end of the season -- among his catches all season, and was unable to explain why.
Labour Weekend, usually regarded as the peak of the season, had a few good runs on the Friday and Saturday.
West Coast Whitebaiters' Association president Des McEnaney said from what he had heard the season was generally a "mixed bag".
"September was poor up and down the West Coast, with October being generous and this month catches petered off."
He knew of "one or two" runs in the Hokitika and Grey rivers later in the season, and some good catches at Greymouth at Labour Weekend.
"In South Westland things were not so bright. Catches on the Okarito River, for one, were not good at all."
Catches on Buller rivers were probably better than anywhere else on the West Coast this year, Mr McEnaney said.
On the Taramakau River, those dragging had some good catches while others on stands were not so lucky.
"The whitebaiters with stands on the Taramakau suffered from both the work on the new bridge and the gravel extraction, and there were some unhappy campers."
Mr McEnaney said he had heard a few "yarns" about some good hauls but did not believe there were any miraculous catches for the season.
- by Viv Logie
