I have used spotties for bait over the past few years and caught red cod spinys and a lot of tope with them, i also caught a gurnard with one a couple of summers back. Usually i target the smaller ones and then rig em up whole or take their head off to reduce the weight. I have found using them that they catch more tope/grey boys comparatively to spinys.
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Whitebait Season starts 1 September 2026 and ends 30 October (inclusive). Chatham Islands: 1 December to the last day of February (inclusive)