Guest Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 I was wondering if it was legal to keep smelt? Those little whitebait things you can find in lake taupo. Heres a pic of some I've only seen them from above but they seem like they can either change colours or their are different colours of them. I just wondered if anyones kept them and if it's legal to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
museeumchick Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 I havent heard anything about people keeping them but I cant see any reason why not. they are pretty cute fish, i would be interested in how things go if you decide to try them out. Heres what I have on them: Common smelt/ cucumber fish - Retropinna retropinna 80-100mm, and max known - 160mm long. Anadromous (adult life in the ocean, young and breeding animals in the rivers), but also found in landlocked waterways. Found in waterways from sea level to 300m asl. to 150km inland. hope that helps, or at least is interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Yes and no.... Legal to keep smelt: YES Those little whitebait things in Taupo: NO Pretty much any fish life in Taupo are out of bounds. Koaro, crayfish and (I think) common bullies belong to the Tuwharetoa Iwi. Smelt were introduced as troutfood and you are not allowed them either. Obviously trout et al sportfish are for licensed fishing only. This goes not only for the lake itself, but also the catchment (all streams/rivers feeding into it) and other local lakes. That aside.... apparently the Waikato River is a good place for smelt, not sure how far up they go though (check NIWA fish atlas distribution maps online) Keeping Smelt: They roll over and die at the slightest possibility of stress. Like in your bucket... I have heard they way to do it is be THOROUGHLY organised in advance. Have quarantine tank established. Transport as quickly as possible and have the fish well-chilled. Either in a small fridge that plugs into the cigarette lighter, or with ice in the water. They are very skittish and can stress or take fright easily, so be REALLY careful around the tank for hte first few weeks. IF you can get them home alive and they survive the initial few weeks, they should last a good few years in your aquarium. Normally they die after spawning, which is a one-year lifecycle, but they can't spawn in the aquarium so they live longer. Other than that, I hear they are awesome in the aquarium Gorgeous purple shine along the silvery body Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Oh OK. I better not catch any then :roll: . Even if I was allowed to catch them I don't think they'd survive the trip home. They're an awesome looking fish thoguh. Is there anything simaler to them that you can keep in aquariums? Also are the things in the lake not smelt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Cam, they are smelt in Taupo, landlocked ones. Inanga are similar, similar size and schooling habit but don't have scales. A bit more robust too. They are the most common whitebait. I seem to have terrible luck trying to keep young whitebait alive, but slightly older ones (longer and yellower and looking more like fish) are pretty easy. I recommend bullies as the easiest native fish to keep. There are several threads here on keeping them, and inanga, do a search and get back with questions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 yeah use to lfs sell the inanga (I'm not sure if they still have any though). So you can't keep any fish from taupo? not even the bullies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Nope, no fish from taupo. But all those species are findable elsewhere. Why the thing with Lake Taupo, you live hours away? Take a net and go play in the Hutt River for the afternoon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 We go up to the lake alot and have always liked the smelt :roll: :lol: . What sort of things are in the hutt river? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 What ISN'T!* :lol: Seriously, go have a look on the NIWA fish atlas (online), get any/all of McDowall's books out of the library. I can tell you everything, or you can find out for yourself, but I know which option you will learn the most from *Not in Hutt River: tarndale bully, all the non-diadromous galaxiids (possibly excluding the dwarf galaxias), mudfish 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preacher Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 The Hutt River is full of life. Bullies by the dozen, common, red fin, blue gill... not so sure on crans and I am sure I have seen a couple of giant bullies there (they were certainly huge, around 15cm? I have caught Inanga there, shrimp and evil troutlets. Just down the road in Belmont park are Koura. Your in Stokes Valley? If you go down the road toward Silverstream, across the road from the Railway museum is a small off the road pumping station? If you go down to the river at night behind it, where the weir crosses the river and look in the shallows you should see lots of bullies, shrimp around the top of the weir and if your lucky some whitebait. Peter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Here people just eat smelt or some use for bait. Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 There are many things called smelt around the world. Kinda similar being shiny little shoalling fish, but different species. The native smelt family (Retropinna spp) are only found in NZ and a few nearby places (part of australia and other local islands?) and I THINK the two NZ smelt are endemic (only found here). Ours smell of cucumber! Seriously, the whole bucket smells! Though that is not hte origin of the name: smoelt is Anglo-Saxon for 'silvery' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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