Rotorua's Jim and Susan Allan packed their lunch and headed to the Eastern Bay in search of whitebait.
The couple had been fishing from the Rangitaiki River near Thornton for only an hour yesterday when The Daily Post caught up with them.
"He's been at it for about an hour and I think there's one whitebait in the bucket," Mrs Allan said of her husband.
Whitebait season officially opened on Wednesday with early reports from anglers around the Bay saying the season is already miles better than the last.
Reports of bucket-size catches were coming in from the Tarawera River and the Rangitaiki River mouth, although the word was the anglers had been on the water at 5am in search of the delicacy.