However, at Haast those who made it past the Labour Weekend floods were getting their just reward this morning.
A few hours before the top of the tide at Greymouth, a solitary whitebaiter was fishing under the Cobden Bridge, and no one else until the 'Big Rock'.
One fisherman, who only gave his name as Kiwi, said he had been out for all 60 days of the entire season, and he attested it had been terrible, and the weather horrible.
"You get good years and bad years - this was not a good year," he said.
"And the government took two weeks off," he said, referring to the curtailed season, which ends at dusk today, October 30, rather than the end of the month, October 31.
"They don't even know how many days are in the month!" Kiwi said.
Visibility in the river this morning was only 1ft or 1.5ft, he said, nodding at the dirty water.
Kiwi said he would fish until about 8pm today.
At Haast, Kerry Eggeling did not immediately answer his cellphone as he was busy putting a shoal into the net.
"It's been very, very dead until about yesterday - there was a bit about. Today there seems to be more."
The Okuru River was "clean and clear" and with a south-west front coming in some surges pushing upriver.
While there were more people out fishing today, a lot went home straight after Labour Weekend.
Also in South Westland, Cheryl Riley was out on the Karangarua River.
"For me personally it's the worst ever - and I've been here for a lot of years."
The Karangarua "is a river that fans out and the mouth is always changing … to be registered on this river is a bit of a fallacy, the river is always changing".
A lot of whitebaiters appeared to be doing not so well this season, she said, and "one or two" were doing not too badly.
West Coast Whitebaiters Association chairman Rob Roney said it had been patchy. In September, the whitebait were around but "the weather was against us".
"In October the weather came right but the whitebait was not here often.
"It was not one of the better seasons, but not one of the worst, Mr Roney said.
