NEW WHITEBAIT SEASON

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27443, 1 September 1954, Page 6

NEW WHITEBAIT SEASON

PREPARATIONS FOR OPENING TODAY

POPULAR, INEXPENSIVE SPORT Whitebait in South Island rivers today will resume their place in a nicelybalanced competition between the numbers and skill of scores of fishermen and the 38 protective clauses in the whitebait fishing regulations- As a spring-time recreation, this sport probably equals angling itself, because it is unlicensed, inexpensive, healthy, and enjoyed by all from small children to aged pensioners. In the last week, the old hands have been checking over, their nets. The set nets are often made of wire gauze, and suffer little deterioration, but most of the fishermen renew annually the outsize butterfly nets which, when stuck in the sand to dry, are the banners of the whitebait season. Some buy as much as five yards of whitebait netting to make a net seven feet long or more. The opening may be five feet across at its widest point. Attached to a hoop of wire set m an Oregon pole, perhaps 12 or 15 feet long, the equipment is ready for fishing. This is the approved gear for the expert, but that seen on the rivers is as varied as the fishermen. Some use old bamboo curtain rods witji nets of mutton-cloth, stockinette, somePld lace, and children have succeeded with

nyl r>n st cicki ngs The South Island season ’ extends from September 1 until the end of November. Early catches may be small when the bait, developed from spawn washed down to sea from the nursery beds up river in the closed season, begin to run up again. This is most likely when the tide begins to come in. Whitebaiting may be done from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset. Prohibitions include fishing within a chain of any weir, floodgate, bridge pier, or artificial groyne. Nets, limited to 15ft in circumference, must not be used in any stream which is not more than three times wider than the net mouth. It is forbidden to have on the fishing site more than one whitebait net for each person. Boats may be used only when they are moored fore and aft as close as possible to the bank, and where the channel exceeds 20 feet in width. There is specific provision for boats to be used against the banks of the Avon, Styx, Kaiapoi and Cam rivers because of soft banks, and also for the use of brushwood fences up to 10 feet long, because of the width of these rivers and the slow current, but the fences must be removed daily. There is also a ban against “jiggers or stirrers” being used to shepherd bait into the nets. The North Canterbury Catchment Board has recently advertised the prohibition of whitebaiting on certain sections of the Waimakariri and Ashley rivers because damage to the banks mav hasten erosion. The old hands complain that the river banks in the week-ends of the season are now “lousy with people,” and thev desire a return of the regulations that nets should be a chain anart. But their objections are mainly based on inconvenience. Most people get some bait or at least some fun when a run is on.