KEY POINTS:
At 91, Ron McTaggart's lifelong passion for whitebaiting had not dimmed. He still dragged himself out of bed every day at 4am or so to see if conditions were right to set up his net.
His family had discussed whether they should try to talk him out of
the treacherous daily treks down to the Grey River, but his wife of 56 years, Nancy, said: "We decided if that's what he wanted to do, that's what he was to do."
Their fears were realised when Mr McTaggart died while whitebaiting this week - the latest to fall victim to the lure of the delicacy on the South Island's West Coast this season.
Mr McTaggart's death on Monday was the fifth since September among West Coast whitebaiters.
Three have drowned, or fallen into a river after a suspected heart attack, and the other man died in a car accident returning from a whitebaiting trip.
The deaths don't appear to have any link but have come as a shock to the fishing community.
West Coast Whitebaiters Association president Jim Bushby said it was one of the most tragic seasons the region had suffered.
"It's just one of those things that happens from time to time. There's a lot of elderly people go whitebaiting and it just catches up with them eventually.
"There's really not a lot you can say, other than give your condolences to the families. Next year, there might not be any [deaths] at all."
With the West Coast producing the best whitebait in the country, people tended to flock in from around the country to try their luck, he said.
Senior Sergeant Stu Koefoed, the acting West Coast police area commander, said whitebaiting was a way of life on the coast and carried "certain risks in certain areas".
Nancy McTaggart said it was ironic that her husband died in a week when many whitebaiters were getting their best catches of the season.
"The day before he died he got four pound. So that was just lovely. You get hooked on it.
"That's what happens with whitebaiters. It is like a disease."
List of the dead
* September 6 - Keith Vickery Hollobon, 80, dies when the van he is travelling in crashes in Bruce Bay, south Westland, while returning from a whitebaiting trip.
* September 6 - Greymouth man Peter Awatere drowns after falling into the Grey River while whitebaiting.
* September 30 - A 74-year-old Westport man dies of a suspected heart attack while whitebaiting near the mouth of the Buller River.
* October 21 - Kevin Stephen Kelly, 61, dies after being hit by a rogue wave and swept out to sea while whitebaiting on the Hokitika River.
* October 29 - Ron McTaggart, 91, is found dead in the Grey River while whitebaiting. The cause of death is still to be determined.
