MY HINAKI

HINAKI REPORT

Opening Statement

A hinaki is an old type of maori Eel/Tuna trap that was used back when there was no cars or Technology that we have now.Hinaki was mainly used to trap Eel/Tuna inside and it was used to feed their family.

When to use the hinaki

A hinaki is to be used at night because all the Eel/Tuna come out and hunt for it’s prey.When you put the hinaki in the creek or river make sure it faces down steam not up steam.So the Eel/Tuna can seem the bait when it goes down steam.

Types of Hinaki

A large type of hinaki, called hinaki tarino, was used in the Waikato River and its tributaries.

The hinaki waharua had an entrance at each end – waharua means ‘two mouths’.They were set in deep rivers or in lagoons. Temporary waharua were sometimes made of flax leaves and used in the Manawatu River.Neither of these were used with eel weirs.   

How to make hinaki.

Hinaki is handmade you weave it with flax it is handmade from our ancestors and then brought down to us.The best Hinaki was a work of art.A normal Hinaki was called Hinaki tukutuku and it only had one entrance.

Bait you should use

Hinaki were used with bait – often worms, or even birds. Bait was put in a small pot called a pu toke, which looked like a miniature hinaki, or a small flax bag called a torehe. At other times it was tied inside the hinaki. The Ngati Porou people would thread earthworms on a string and tie them to a piece of flax flower stalk, which floated inside the trap.

Hīnaki at eel weirs were used without bait.

Closing statement

Hinaki are meant to catch eels because it is a eel trap but really some people just put it on the wall to make it art and other people use it for hang up for a light shade.