Thread: Whitebait Condiments

Righto what do you buggers like on, or with your whitebait pattie?


I have had a young soldier that I cooked a feed for, smother the patties in tomato sauce. I was horrified, but each to their own.

I was brought up to have a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of salt or a dash of mint sauce.

I like thousand island dressing or tartare sauce . I also prefer the fritter made with mashed potatoe as you would for fish cakes(Hewihewi or similar) bit of spring onion & parsley. Makes a little bit of Whitebait go a lot further.

Originally Posted by Chris

I like thousand island dressing or tartare sauce . I also prefer the fritter made with mashed potatoe as you would for fish cakes(Hewihewi or similar) bit of spring onion & parsley. Makes a little bit of Whitebait go a lot further.

Never really had that problem down here Chris My grandmother used to dig it into the garden. I have just jinxed my season tho eh?

just a little salt. lemon maybe, mint sauce i couldnt really get into at all. Just made me think of home killed mutton.

A touch of curry powder in the egg wash and then salt/pepper and lemon and fresh white bread............heaven!.

A little salt and pepper and more whitebait fritters!

After all that work filleting them , they need only the merest suggestion of salt. As the great Escoffier said...keep it simple. It is like Bluff Oysters...why on earth would you do anything, absolutely anything with the glorious things except to savour every atom...

Fritters fried in pure butter salt and pepper ! . Prefer west coast bait over east coast. Sounds stupid but they do have a different flavor . If I've had a good season and getting board of the flavor mint sauce brings on the taste again .

Originally Posted by Munsey

Fritters fried in pure butter salt and pepper ! . Prefer west coast bait over east coast. Sounds stupid but they do have a different flavor . If I've had a good season and getting board of the flavor mint sauce brings on the taste again .

You know your shit Munsey. They have a different taste from every river believe it or not. My favorite is the big strong inunga? from the Arawhata. Hard to stop but man is it good.
Hard to sell as it freezes yellow and puts a lot of people off. Suits me, I dont get much of it so it gets put in the freezer.
Mint sauce has to be tried as well. It works amazingly well with bait. I have snuck it into a few sammies that were raved about from people that hate it.

Salt, pepper, splash of vinegar

Originally Posted by R93

Never really had that problem down here Chris My grandmother used to dig it into the garden. I have just jinxed my season tho eh?

Don't have any shortage now but initially catching the little buggers was a learning curve ,still prefer them with the mashed spud.

Those big strong inunga just bi-catch but good trout or kahawai bait fished on a running rig .
Not illegal in the Wahou to use

Originally Posted by Chris

Don't have any shortage now but initially catching the little buggers was a learning curve ,still prefer them with the mashed spud.

Those big strong inunga just bi-catch but good trout or kahawai bait fished on a running rig .
Not illegal in the Wahou to use

Eh???? Use it as Bait? We cant be talking the same fish? Ours look gold in a shoal and run deep and hard in the current. They dont care how fast it is, faster the better.
Surely not the same fish, it is the best eating bait by far and I have been told the Arawhata is the only place you get it. Not a hundy on that tho as I am sure I have caught it in the Haast.

Probably not the same at all .The main so called White bait that every one want over the Wahou is actually a type of smelt.Has a cucumber like smell about it ,they often have a larger size bait with them(small numbers) that look like baby kahawai.Which is what I thought you where talking bout.Probably twice as big & bloody good bait.
The main run is in the top couple of feet of water which is fine as most guys use scoop nets.I buggered my neck & found the scoop net a real problem so went to a sock net.The advantage is it picks up the real fine bait that runs deeper nearer the bottom,I prefer it to the other bait as is far better eating.It can have a green tinge to it once frozen though.

This is the main variety from the Wahou ,think its actually a type of smelt & not true Whitebait

I am with ya Chris. Thats what we call it a cucumber fish down here. It has a gut yes? The big bait I am on about it larger than the rest but not by much and has no gut. It cannot be mistaken for anything but whitebait though.
I am not sure if they are called inunga either. Its just what is used on the river a bit.

Yes it has a gut ,no water in your bucket or they burst. The fine bait I mentioned is what we call inunga ,hes the little guy the climbs up the inside of the bucket .
I know the Haast stuff I won a couple pound at a shoot ,be twice the size of ours but transparent ,not too bad either.