# Whiting Observation.



## grinner (May 15, 2008)

managed a 40 cm one last end of june in the rain(often the case) and that was number 6 at 40cm in 5 years (not a very good smash rate) 

i have found the ones i get in the southern bay are always fairly lean.
and the best bait seems to be very small yabbies.

contrast that with wayne young who has caught over 200 over 40 in the nerang river and who told me he would NEVER fish for whiting except with bloodworms.
i note a lot of his fish are really plump. and my theory is, they are so well fed in the nerang they only go for the best of baits (ie bloodworms) , they're just not hungry enough to take a yabbie. still i cant justify the cost of bloodworms when tiny bream take most of them  

pic of mine and pic of a nerang whiting


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## clarkey (Jan 13, 2009)

Got told along time a go buy an old fella to fish yabbies in the broadwater as that is where you find/pump them and blood worms up the river as that is where they dig them.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I'd be happy to catch either of those!


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

cav, i have caught a few on artificials but usually when fishing for flatties.

clarkey, good advice as always

con, swap you for a barra

patwah, thanks big fella. get your young one to hold your fish, always makes em look bigger.


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## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

Lovely whiting, Pete... I can feel the saliva ducts working just looking at them.

I reckon you ought to try the plastic worms... I've caught heaps of whiting on them, tho' not 40cms.

Cheers, Jimbo


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## Gene (Jan 9, 2008)

They go alright on the ZX blades down here.

Gene


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## gbc (Feb 16, 2012)

Thread 3 soldier crabs onto a whiting hook. If there's any slappers around they'll get found.


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## alveytait (Aug 18, 2012)

gbc said:


> Thread 3 soldier crabs onto a whiting hook. If there's any slappers around they'll get found.


Old man swears by soldier crabs. The tiny ones with the black backs are the go. He rakes them up into a fine net and has all he needs for a days fishing in about 10 mins. Price is Free


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## OldDood (Nov 6, 2008)

About 1 to 2 inches of Gup 6" Camo worms and at least 1/0 jig head sorts the biguns from the littleuns.
A fairly fast twitchy retreive gets them on the chew and preferably kick some sand up in the process.
My biggest is 48cm.
Bloodworms do work wonders as well using the same technique as above.


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## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

OldDood said:


> About 1 to 2 inches of Gup 6" Camo worms and at least 1/0 jig head sorts the biguns from the littleuns.
> A fairly fast twitchy retreive gets them on the chew and preferably kick some sand up in the process.
> My biggest is 48cm.
> Bloodworms do work wonders as well using the same technique as above.


Wow OldDood... that's one honker whiting at 48cm... are you talking summer whiting or KGW?

Alveytait and gbc...

The little black soldier crabs used to account for biguns in Pumicestone Passage near Caloundra, according to many scribes, but unfortunately for me, I never got to try them there.

Cheers all... Jimbo


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## Plasman (Aug 27, 2008)

Sorry to hijack the thread Pete but how many people in QLD can tell the difference between trumpeter/winter/diver whiting and sand/summer whiting which I catch more in winter.
I had a pretty abrupt conversation with a guy in Rays Outdoors last Saturday about this and pretty much everyone I've come across while fishing think that if you catch it during winter, it's a winter whiting. One of the local tackle shops had a picture posted on their Facebook page by a patron of a nice bag of sand whiting which they responded nice winter whiting.
Cracker fish too mate, getting a few on blades down the canals at the moment, kids live eating them.


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## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

When the fisheries inspectors check your bag and you have undersized golden-lined or sand whiting,(for the un-initiated, two different species) they'll know that they're not winter-whiting/trumpeter whiting that don't have a size limit.

So, I reckon that it's our responsibility to get to know the difference in the three species. If all your catch is over the 23cm when it's inspected, no problems at all, but if there are some under that, they had better be winter whiting, or you'll be paying up big-time.

At times, there are really big winter whiting to be caught, and I find it difficult to distinguish them from the others, mainly because their spots are usually indiscernible at that stage, however, I notice in their pictures in the tide-book that the front dorsal fin on winter-whiting appear to be rounded or convex (curves outwards), whilst on both the golden-lined and sand whiting, they're concave, (curves inwards).

Both the winter whiting and the sand whiting have dark marks at the base of the pectoral fins, so I wouldn't try to separate them by that point.

The only hassle when they're all over the summer whiting legal limit comes when you feel that you've got the bag limit of 30, and have to stop taking them. You wouldn't have to stop if they're all winter whiting, until you have 50, so I believe.

Enough for a couple of feeds is OK for me, so I wouldn't take home anywhere near that amount, anyway... even if I could catch that many. 

Fishos in NSW have higher size limits than in Qld... all the above relates only to Qld rules.

Hope I haven't confused the matter...

Jimbo


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

I dont have too much trouble telling the difference between sand and diver whiting, if in doubt throw them back. I only use the little ones for bait anyhow....Snapper love em.
Its the Poddies I have trouble with, you cant keep sea mullet or diamond scale under 30cm, even for bait, the others are fair game.


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

i was talking to wayne about big whiting. he removes the head and these are sent to qld university to a girl doing a ph d on whiting (i think she studies the otoliths)

wayne was up to north of 200 whiting over 40 from the nerang last time i saw him and he still has the biggest at 44.5 cm.

i regulrly speak to people who claim to have caught a whiting close to 50 cm (usually from near bribie island)

wayne has only one word for this.....bonefish


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## OldDood (Nov 6, 2008)

Beekeeper said:


> OldDood said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


We call them Yellowfin whiting and can generally catch them somewhere in the Gulf all year round.
They look like this. I have found there is normally some big ones in the school. You just have to work out how not to catch the smaller ones.
The sink they are sitting in is 40cm wide so there are some over 40s in that lot.


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## alveytait (Aug 18, 2012)

grinner said:


> i was talking to wayne about big whiting. he removes the head and these are sent to qld university to a girl doing a ph d on whiting (i think she studies the otoliths)
> 
> wayne was up to north of 200 whiting over 40 from the nerang last time i saw him and he still has the biggest at 44.5 cm.
> 
> ...


I've seen loads of documentries on people seeing mermaids and Big Foots. I'm with Youngy on this one, he knows whiting in South East Qld like no other. If there has been a whiting caught close to 50cm around these waters then all the cameras must have had flat batteries on those days........


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## mangajack (Jul 23, 2007)

I've caught 42cm ........seen a 46cm caught by my partner.........but never seen anything bigger. Hear stories of the 50 every year, but never a pic of it.


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## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

OldDood said:


> We call them Yellowfin whiting and can generally catch them somewhere in the Gulf all year round.
> They look like this. I have found there is normally some big ones in the school. You just have to work out how not to catch the smaller ones.
> The sink they are sitting in is 40cm wide so there are some over 40s in that lot.


Yes OldDood, they look just the same as our Golden Lined whiting, and an old mate of mine reckons the males (small) and females travel in different schools... if you pick the wrong one, little fish result... right one, good fish.

Nice mess of whiting, there OldDood... now comes the worst part of fishing... cleaning them... ;-)

I've noticed over the years that the scales on the Golden Lined look more coarse and rough to the feel, than those on the Sand whiting.

Cheers Jimbo


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