The whitebait season is now open in most of New Zealand until the end of November, except for the West Coast of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, where fishing starts in a few weeks and ends earlier.
As usual, Department of Conservation officers will be checking to make sure nets are the correct size and not taking up more than a third of the water channel.
Taranaki ranger Bryan Williams says how good the season is depends on the weather.
But he says more people are deliberately breaking the rules, including using too much net and screen and taking up more than a third of the waterway.
Mr Williams says he has come across people using nets up to 12 metres long instead of the allowed six metres.
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Ray Christiansen checks out whitebaiting nets on the Mokau River before the start of the season. Photo: RNZ