Thread: Whitebaiting!

not a bad day on the river yesterday , would have ended up with about a kilo and a mate got just over a pound.
shit tides for the working man for the next week or so though

still a fine way of doing f all... BOP doing well this morning..

Originally Posted by Biggun708

Attachment 76159still a fine way of doing f all... BOP doing well this morning..

How did you get on @Biggun708

Originally Posted by madmaori

How did you get on @Biggun708

Started of real well at the beginning of the tide... Just tapered off to nothing by the end... Ended up with just under a kilo...

Originally Posted by Biggun708

Started of real well at the beginning of the tide... Just tapered off to nothing by the end... Ended up with just under a kilo...

Gotta be happy sitting by the river though!

Just having breakfast then going to mow the lawns, after that I am heading out for the 1st time this season. Nice gentle norwester blowing, sea flattening off nicely. I will give you a report when I get home.

Ok folks, a short lived trip to the river before disaster struck and I am lucky to be alive I am a veteran of 43 years whitebaiting, Dad started taking me out at the age of 5 so I got to learn all the currents, the waves, tides conditions etc so without blowing my own trumpet I am very experienced when it comes to whitebaiting.

Now what happened? I guess fatigue played a big part in it as I am still sore from my trip rabbit shooting so when I started swinging the net I could feel the body crying out in pain, secondly the norwester started blowing a gale so that took the strength out of me and then there was the out going tide which with a rough surf became hazardous.

Bottom line is a big surge came and it turned me inside out so with the net dragging me towards the current I looked behind me thinking the wave must be well through it's push but no it just kept pushing and soon I was in a deep hole rocketing towards the main current.

I have rehearsed this event many times in my head over the years so was ready for this moment, I went under and gulped down 2 big gob fulls of water so the first thing I did was let go of the whitebait net then pulled the release buckle on my dive belt which attaches my catch bucket so I then came to the surface. Although I am not a swimmers arsehole the next part in the strategy was to swim with the current on an angle and luckily one of the other whitebaiters hield his net out which I gratefully grabbed and I got back to shore absolutely rooted.

Now before anyone says were you wearing a life jacket I can tell you I did try it a couple of times however when you are constantly chest high in water and sometimes the waves crashing over your head the life jackets pick you up off your feet and you become too buoyant which is a hazard so it's far safer not to wear one.

I can report the whitebait were not running at the time, only shoals of 6's - 10's max but they could have picked up with the incoming tide. Never mind I have cheated death today so I called into super liquor and bought some Jim Beam to celebrate my survival.

Photo of me before I started whitebaiting, happy in anticipation


Photo after the event


Sorry to be so long wined on your thread but I thought I should share this experience