Story: Whitebait and whitebaiting

First day of the season

Denness Gilbert waits patiently on the stream edge on the first day of the whitebaiting season in August 1996. His gear consists of a fine mesh net with steel frame, a spotter board (the white strip on the stream bed) and a plastic bucket.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1996/2340/20a

by John Nicholson

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Carl Walrond, Whitebait and whitebaiting – Nets, screens and canneries, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/11703/first-day-of-the-season (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Carl Walrond, published 1 March 2009.