Small fish caught in a whitebait net at the mouth of the Wairau River in September 2025. They are possibly yellow-eyed mullet.
You can read more about whitebaiting on the Department of Conservation website by clicking here.
“The regulations had not changed since the 1990s and were long overdue for review. The new regulations will improve the fishery’s sustainability by reducing fishing pressure on whitebait species and native fish bycatch.
They will increase equity of catching opportunities for recreational, low-volume fishers by standardising regulations across the country.”
In this article, we offer tips to help beginners get started and learn about how to catch whitebait.
First of all, whitebait consists primarily of the young of three species: inanga, koaro, and banded kokopu. The inanga is by far the most commonly caught of these. However, the young of several other species are sometimes found in the whitebaiters’ net. This includes giant kokopu, short-jawed kokopu, and the bigger and more fish-like smelt or silvery. Most whitebaiters don’t regard smelt as whitebait and throw them back into the river.
All these species are collectively regarded as whitebait. Sometimes whitebaiters also catch in their nets: yellow-eyed mullet, trout, eels, and small kahawai. These bigger fish should be released unharmed, though the yellow-eyed mullet make good bait if you are going surfcasting. Many whitebaiters fishing near river mouths frequently put a bait out with a rod. Perhaps they want to catch something else to break the monotony of having to eat whitebait all the time!
Whitebaiters regularly catch other items in their nets. Most of these are unwanted sticks and weeds brought down by the river following rain. Anyway, all whitebait species spend part of their life cycle in the sea and part in freshwater.
The whitebait’s eggs hatch in freshwater during late Autumn and are carried down the rivers and out to sea, where they live and grow over winter. In spring, now recognisable as the whitebait we catch, they head back up the rivers to mature in swamps and bush-covered streams.
These mature adults migrate to the lower reaches of rivers and estuaries to spawn. Their eggs remain in these areas until they hatch and are washed out to sea, completing the cycle.
You can read more about the fish caught as whitebait on the Department of Conservation website. They are:
New Zealand has 51 native freshwater fish species. Department of Conservation website.
In the video: Adult whitebait swimming in a shoal up the lower Waimakariri River. Adults lay eggs on the river and creekside vegetation at the high watermark. The eggs hatch on the next spring tide, and the larvae are washed out to sea. The juvenile whitebait, considered a delicacy in New Zealand, spend the winter at sea and return to the rivers during the spring.
Whitebaiters are an ingenious lot. Their nets are often partially homemade. Many have produced a whole range of gadgets and devices to help land a feed. Most of which you won’t find in a store or catalogue. These include trolleys to tote their nets and go-byes, specially adapted trailers for the same purpose, the customised box and pole nets, and many homemade strainers for separating bait from unwanted rubbish.
The video above: Drag Netting for whitebait at the mouth of the Waimakariri River, near Christchurch, New Zealand. About making and using a whitebait dragnet. Drag netting in the surf at the Waimakariri River mouth is enjoyable and productive with one of these homemade nets. Whitebait costs about NZ$100 per kilo in shops, so catching this delicacy yourself saves money and is great fun! The net frame is made from PVC pipe. The bottom PVC pipe has lead weights inside to make it hold on the bottom.
Which type of net to use depends mostly on where you are going to fish. Dragnets are easy to use. They are pulled around by their owners through the shallow surf. This method is best suited to river mouths where the sea comes in over a shallow sandy beach, such as at the mouth of Canterbury’s Waimakariri River. Their drag nets have floats at the top to ensure they remain the right way up. If the surf was too rough or the drop-off too sudden, a drag net would flip over. It would also be too dangerous.
If many people are white-baiting near the lower reaches of a river, the drag netters get the first shot at the bait as it moves up. The method is also quite labour-intensive and requires a strong back. It can be a very productive method. It possibly also has the advantage in that no matter how many whitebaiters are in the river, there is always room for another out in the surf.
Box nets, or set nets as they are also known, are very popular. The main reasons are that they are highly productive and, most importantly, they are a passive whitebaiting method. Although it requires some strength to empty the net, it has a big advantage in that once set up, you can sit down and read a book or listen to the radio while the net does all the work. A trap in the box net prevents the bait from swimming back out.
Don’t forget that the regulations clearly state it is an offence not to remain within 10 metres of your net. Well, there are some drawbacks to box nets. If fishing the river’s tidal zone, you have to move the net backwards or forwards to prevent it from either being stranded high and dry or washed away by the tide.
The go-byes (or screens) and net also require a bit of work to set up and carry around. This is particularly so if you want to fish a river mouth where access is restricted to four-wheel drives or a long walk. Fishing a big whitebait setnet means a lot of work. Transporting a large, heavy net and go-byes takes up a lot of space. You’ll need a large vehicle or a trailer, not to mention the loading and unloading, as well as carrying them by hand from your vehicle backwards and forwards to and from the river! The set net and go-bys are also the most expensive to buy.
Looking at the regulations, the mouth of the net must not be greater than 4.5 metres, and the total length of go-byes and net must not exceed 6 metres. You are not permitted to use this total of 6 metres in length if doing so would result in your gear exceeding more than one-quarter of the channel width.
You are also not allowed to get together with a mate on the opposite side of the channel and have the combined width of your gear, together with his, exceed more than a quarter of the channel width.
To set up a box net, you need a riverbank that is stable and preferably has good sloping access. A steep bank makes fishing with a box net impossible, or at the very least, forces you to do away with the go-byes (screens).
Set nets and go-byes are a real hassle to cart around. A full-size box net won’t fit in the boot of your car. Therefore, you’ll need a roof rack or a trailer just to get it from home to the river. There are a few folding models available that have helped to alleviate this problem a little.
Pole nets are by far the easiest to carry around and use. If you are a total beginner at whitebaiting, a pole net is probably the best place to start. With a pole net, you can fish almost anywhere, from the crashing surf to quiet, tranquil streams and rivers. Not all of the long handle is used. Some of it acts as a counterbalance to the net. Pole nets are made with aluminium frames and poles, so they are lightweight for their size.
With the pole net, the pole is in two sections, which are bolted together and then bolted to the net frame. This whole arrangement can be bolted together or taken apart in seconds. The net, together with a pair of six-foot sections of pipe, is much easier to transport.
Pole nets are available in a range of sizes up to the legal maximum allowed mouth of 4.5 metres. This is bigger than it sounds. A full-size pole net can be a bit difficult to manoeuvre, although it must increase your chances when fishing blind into milky water. The pole net I use has a mouth of 3 metres and seems to work well enough, especially in the surf where I like to use it. I have a larger one that I am going to use this season.
Whitebaiting can be dangerous. Between 2019-2023, four people drowned while whitebaiting. These preventable deaths occurred in both the South and North Islands, and none of the victims wore life jackets. Keeping safe this whitebaiting season – Department of Conservation
Whitebait Cleaning Screen or Wriggle Board Video
More about whitebait cleaning screens on this page.
There are some specialist pole nets available that, believe it or not, are used to fish the crashing surf on shingle beaches such as at the mouth of the Rakaia River. These nets have short poles and small mouths to allow them to catch the waves. The net is rigid like a miniature box net on the end of a short pole. The method is somewhat dangerous, and I don’t recommend you try it if just starting as a whitebaiter. For those who do, a life jacket is a sound investment.
Most white-baiting is a hit-and-miss affair. Nets are dipped into milky water and fished blind. With the pole net, it is possible, when the water is clear, to see the bait coming and scoop them up. This works well in sedate rivers.
White sight-boards are placed on the riverbed. When the bait is spotted moving over the board, the net is lowered into the water ahead of the shoal to scoop them up. Mostly, however, the water is seldom clear enough for this. A chop on the water or strong glare also makes it difficult, though Polaroid sunglasses are a big help for seeing the bait.
The pole net can be used while standing in the same spot and fished blind, or you can walk downstream as the tide is coming in. This keeps the sock flowing out the back as the bait swims upstream. You can also use your pole net in the surf by just moving it quietly along in the direction of the waves.
On the West Coast, the mouths of the main rivers are very popular during the whitebait season. Whitebaiters walk a beat sometimes up to 100 metres long. They start upstream and work their way down with their pole net at a steady pace.
They then lift their nets from the water and walk back upstream to rejoin the queue. This gives everyone the same opportunity to fill their bucket. These sorts of customs appear strange to white-baiters from other parts of New Zealand. Particularly if there are dozens of white-baiters just standing in the queue and not white-baiting at all, as they wait for their turn!
A decent pair of neoprene waders is a must for white-baiting. The season begins while there are still frosts on the ground and heavy snow on the Southern Alps. The water is very cold. For this reason, whitebaiters are the biggest buyers of fishing waders in New Zealand. You need chest-high waders for whitebaiting because you have to wade out with a margin for preventing water from coming over the top of your waders and down your legs.
Ideally, you should have your waders custom-fitted. If the shop doesn’t offer a custom fitting service, go somewhere else. There is nothing worse than waders that don’t fit properly. Remember that too big is just as bad as too small a fitting. Such waders will wear quickly and be uncomfortable to wear.
I had a pair of good-quality custom-fitted Dryline neoprene waders that lasted me 17 years. Cheap poor poor-quality waders are a poor economy. When you get home after whitebaiting, always hang your waders by the boots so you don’t have any folds, and they will last you a long time.
Essential items in the whitebaiter’s kit are a bucket and a strainer. These range from sophisticated homemade stainless steel models on a stand to less expensive ones. Most whitebaiters have their bucket half full of water so that their bait can swim around. The water also acts as a weight to prevent the bucket from blowing over in the wind.
Many white-baiters allow their catch to swim around in a bucket of water. This is fine if you are only going to be a few hours. If you intend to stay at the river for much longer, it is a bad idea to keep them this way, as they soon die. The best idea is to drain them well with a kitchen colander. And keep them in a bucket with a lid over it, and store them in a cool place. Whatever you do, don’t place them in a plastic bag for the day, or they will heat up and be cooked by nightfall.
Here is an amazing “seagull’s eye view” of whitebaiters fishing with scoop nets at the mouth of the Waitaki River. The Waitaki River is the border between South Canterbury and North Otago.
The best whitebait fritters contain nothing but whitebait. Just butter the pan to stop them from sticking. Maybe if you have had a bad day, you can thin the mixture with the addition of an egg. But I think the addition of flour means you’re headed downhill. There is nothing as good as a feed of whitebait you caught yourself. Give it a try.
Whitebaiting is only allowed during the whitebait fishing season. Taking whitebait at all other times is prohibited. The whitebait fishing season opens from 1 September to 30 October (inclusive). This excludes the Chatham Islands.
The Chatham Islands whitebaiting season runs from 1 December to the last day of February (inclusive).
In New Zealand and the Chatham Islands, whitebaiting is allowed from 5 am to 8 pm or 6 am to 9 pm during New Zealand daylight saving. Daylight saving time starts on Sunday, 28 September 2025.
You can read the whitebait regulations, along with further details about whitebaiting, here on the Department of Conservation website.
Above: a short video showing set netting at the mouth of Canterbury’s Waimakariri River.
Here is a good recipe for whitebait fritters.
Above: a short video showing a pole net in use at the mouth of Canterbury’s Waimakariri River.
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Hi Roger, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
great reading