For Stu Freeman, catching whitebait on a sunny day at the Aparima River in Riverton was an ideal way to spend the day.
Unfortunately this year because of the shortened season and weather events such as the flooding in September, his recreational time was cut short.
Previously, the whitebaiting season ran from August 15 to November 30.
It was reduced by about six weeks to run from September 1 to October 30.
Mr Freeman bought his stand at the Aparima River in 2013.
The ideal months for catching whitebait were August and September because in October and November there was a lot of smelt in the river, he said.
Lynley Taylor said she and her husband did not get much opportunity to get away from lambing to fish.
"Ones like us ... don’t get that many days here when you’ve only got two months to come.
"That’s just the way it goes — if your net’s not in the water you don’t stand a chance."
Southern Net Services owner Kim Brown said the shortened season had led to people having less opportunity to go whitebaiting.
"It’s intensifying the fishing and it’s making for a lot of discourse out here because people are getting cranky.
"A lot of people are just weekenders, and you get a couple of weather events and that’s it gone."
There had been a kneejerk reaction and too many dates taken out of the season.
Department of Conservation Murihiku operations manager John McCarroll said the nationally standardised shorter season reduced fishing pressure on the most threatened species of whitebait during their peak migration period.
It was too soon to say whether the shortening of the season had been a success in replenishing whitebait populations.
"Whitebait runs can fluctuate greatly from year to year and depend on many factors, such as spawning season and growth condition of the fish at sea.
"This means that establishing trends takes a long time, and it will be a while before we see the impact of new season dates on our whitebait populations," he said.
