'Bait not taking;

Press, 2 September 1980, Page 1

'Bait not taking;

•; / A disappointed whitebaiter, Mr Rbbin Gray/ of 1 Christchurch, leaves/ the' Waimakariri. River : mouth 5 with only 77 whitebait on the, opening /day of the season yesterday. . He'was not alone. What had promised to be a good opening day proved poor ; in? spite of the; usually;, favourable noria-westerly’ • conditions, catches being ;meagre? along the .Canter-: .bury cdast’<- ; ■ At. <Kairakj/ ,qn . northern' sideCof the Wai-

makariri mouth, whitebaiters were counting their catches by numbers rather than the hbped-for , kilograms. ?; >, ‘yOne had nothing, another 77, and another 85. “I. think - we; might, 'just make meat patties, and put a few whitebait on top for decoration,” said one veteran woman ’baiter. '/'■/' ' /%/?■' .' ' The opening ,of the season in .Grpyniouth ypsterday was also marked by qif absence dfy-whltebpit!;ij~; : "and whitebaiter£ ” r ;

: Heavy rain bn Saturday night had raised the levels of many West Coast rivets,■ and only a handful of fishermen braved the strong" winds and rain on the rocks below the Greymouth Wharf yesterday. The Grey River was dirty, and one experienced whitebaiter said that it would take, a couple of days .to clear. Because of .flie:'condition of the river whitebaitprs / were, forced to ■ drag;^/byt/ without Jesuits: '•