Whitebaiters out in force in Timaru over long weekend

Keen whitebaiters have been making the most of the long weekend and decent weather with a large group trying their luck at Smithfield Beach, as the season nears the halfway mark.

Longtime whitebaiter Darrell Welsh, who caught four pounds of whitebait in six hours on Sunday said it was a good day to be out with his net.

“There was a lot of people out.

“Every second scoop was a good scoop yesterday,” Welsh said.

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He said in the past he had caught as much as 10-and-a-half pounds at the same spot.

“You don’t know how much you’re gonna get, and then you pull out the net and go ‘woah look at that’.”

For Welsh, of St Andrews,the activity is “therapeutic” and a great way to spend his time when he’s not working or at home.

He said last year’s season was “booming”, and 2022 had proven to be a good season to date.

New to whitebaiting this season, Stuart Spurr said he had wanted to give it a go for many years.

“It’s all very new to me, it’s all very exciting,” Spurr said.

Spurr, who was also out at Smithfield Beach on Sunday, had always considered himself too busy for his hobbies, until recently when he made a “conscious focus” to live his life more fully, and finally got out the whitebait gear he’d had for 12 years.

“It’s just about making time to do the things that are important to you,” he said.

The experience this season had brought back some memories for him and his father, who he had shared some of his catch with, as his grandfather used to catch whitebait and Spurr remembers eating it.

“One of my earliest memories is being four-years-old and eating whitebait.”

He said he had found the Timaru whitebaiting community to be very welcoming, with some more experienced whitebaiters offering him tips.

And, he said he had found it a bit more physically challenging than expected, the scooping action with the net through the currents providing a workout.

“It’s actually way harder than I thought.”

Spurr intends to continue whitebaiting for the rest of season, which ends October 30, and following this with many more seasons.

This season is shorter than previous years, running from September 1 to October 30, nationwide. In past years, the season ran from August 15 to November 30 in most of the country, and from September 1 to November 14 on the West Coast.

It is one of the changes the Department of Conversation announced in June last year.