WHITEBAIT HAVE BUN VERY WELL THIS WEEK

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 99, 24 September 1948, Page 5

WHITEBAIT HAVE BUN VERY WELL THIS WEEK

Netting Craze Is L At Its Height Whitebait have been running particularly well this week, and the netting craze is at its height. Without taking an actual census of the numbers of the hopeful who have been haunting the river banks lately, one estimates ihat at least 60 per cent of families in Whakatane have had whitebait fritters on the menu h# the last three or four weeks. Actually, whitebait started to run ;a little earlier than usual this year. 'Then there was a lull, but in recent «days they have come back in greater .-numbers than ever, and some heavy -catches have been reported. From the Whakatane river mouth - to past Black’s crossing at Taneatua, any day, any night recently, one •could see the enthusiasts watching their nets. Children love the sport as much as their elders, and their exu'berant keenness .has led to some near tragedies. Quite a number of stories have “been told in the last week or so of how some young > hopefuls have fallen into the swift waters, and at ' least one grown woman is known to have got a ducking. However, - there have been no serious conse-* • quences yet. Every year, the whitebait start to ■ run in quantity in early September, -and the netting craze sets in. Long ago, the Maori tumbled to the commercial possibilities, and whitebait from Maketu to the Cape find their way to the shops. Long recognised as a Maori fishing ground and left to them, the mouth of the Rangitaiki river at Matata yields a rich yearly harvest, and there are usually 15 to 20 families camped there for the season to share a catch of up to 2 tons, - which sells on the Auckland market at anything from 3/6 to 7/6 per lb wholesale and makes up to 11/- re--tail.