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Whitebait Fishing Season Opens on Saturday 1 October
The recreational whitebait fishing season starts on Saturday 1 October and lasts for 6 weeks, closing on Friday 11 November. A whitebait licence is required for whitebating if you are 10 years of age and older. A person who is under 10 years of age is not permitted to fish for whitebait. The licence costs $28 this year and it can be bought at any Service Tasmania shop and at select private agents.
A good feed of whitebait from the Forth River during a previous season
The recreational whitebait fishing season starts on Saturday 1 October and lasts for 6 weeks, closing on Friday 11 November.
A whitebait licence is required for whitebating if you are 10 years of age and older. A person who is under 10 years of age is not permitted to fish for whitebait. The licence costs $28 this year and it can be bought at any Service Tasmania shop and at select private agents.
On the North Coast, these private agents are located at Devonport (Mountain Designs, Devonport Boat 'n Tackle, Bigfin Sports Fishing), Smithton (Smithton Sports), Latrobe (Wells Home Hardware), Somerset (Somerset Newsagency), Burnie (Tassie Tackle & Outdoor), Turners Beach (Corbs Servo), Ulverstone (Ultimate Fishing & Outdoors) and Forth (Forth Village Store), and in the South at New Norfolk (Wigstons Sports).
This year, the daily catch limit for whitebait has been increased from 1 kg per day to 2 kg per day, although the overall season possession limit remains unchanged at 10 kg.
The rivers open for fishing this season are the Little Forester River, Brid River, Tamar River, Derwent River, Huon River, Rubicon River, Don River, Forth River, Leven River, Black River, Duck River, Pieman River and Henty River.
The regulations governing whitebait fishing, in particular when, where and how to whitebait are quite specific. A copy of these rules is provided on the whitebait licence.
