# Fish of the Month 'Whiting'



## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

Name/UserName: Craig '450' Coughlan
Where I fish:
NSW South coast lakes and rivers. Mainly Durras lake, Clyde river, Moruya river and Wagonga inlet

Area I fish:
I have caught Whiting in depths up to 6 metres but in summer months they are more commonly found over shallow sandflats and weedbeds where they hunt for saltwater yabbies/nippers and prawns

Rod/Reel I use:
Team daiwa battler rod, 6ft 4-8lb matched to a Daiwa Steez 2500 reel for the slightly larger poppers and hardbodies
Team Daiwa Heartland Z finesse special, 6ft 4-8lb with a Daiwa Luvias 1003 reel for small poppers, hardbodies and soft plastic lures
Reels spooled with 4lb TD Sensor braid and 4lb Sunline FC rock flurocarbon leader

Hard Body Lure/Soft Plastic:
Surface lures: River2Sea bubblepop 35 and 45's, Bushy's stiffy popper 50mm, storm Hopper popper, Rebel PopR, Daiwa Shiranui are some of the best, preferably in transparent natural colours or clear.
Diving minnows: Lucky craft Bevy minnow, Smith Shirasu minnow, Strikepro small fry for shallow water, and Ecogear SX40, Strikepro Pygmy, Atomic Hardz for the deeper water up to about 2-3m.
Soft plastic: Gulp 2" shrimp, Gulp sandworms, Gulp 3" fry, Squidgie pro worm, Squidgie pro wriggler, Squidgie pro critter and Squidgie Bug.
resin heads or unweighted is the best option over sandflats and weedbeds, or where extra depth is reguired up to a 1/32oz jighead can be effective.

Bait I use: 
i rarely use bait, but the most common baits used for Whiting are, Saltwater yabbies/nippers, prawns live or peeled, bloodworms and beachworms.
Use a lightly weighted running sinker rig with a small long shanked hook.

Technique:
Surface luring is my most successful style of fishing for Whiting, outfishing any other form by 20:1.
For consistent catches of big Whiting i use a fast aggressive retreive with lots of small twitches of the rod tip without a single pause all the way back to the kayak and quite often i see 4 to 5 Whiting wrestling to get to the lure first.
Whiting spook easily over shallow areas so a thin braided line is required to get the extra long casts ahead of the yak ( you want the fish to see the lure before the yak), and for the lure to spend maximum time in the water.
Some people prefer to change the trebles over to single hooks, but for me that just resulted in less hookups and more dropped fish so i stick to using Owner stinger trebles in sizes 14 - 18.
I prefer a blood or uni knot to attach the lure rather than a loop knot for cup faced poppers, the solid connection of a blood or uni knot helps the popper to track straighter which gives off a better 'blooping' sound from the lure.
Most of my surface caught Whiting have come from depths of 1m to less than a foot of water, but i have also had Whiting come up from 2m of water to hit a surface lure, so if the shallows are not producing the goods dont hesitate to fish slightly deeper.

My hot tip:
Large area's of shallow weedbeds with big patches of sand amongst them hold lots of big Whiting, fish them hard and move around quietly.


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## dishley (Jan 20, 2009)

If they spook so easily why have a constant noisy retrieve?? Wouldn't a slower retrieve work better on spooky fish? You can still make a good deal of noise without going constantly nuts. Do surface rings have anything to do with whiting poppering? I haven't fished for them so i'm all ears. Actually the first bloke i saw fishing for them i asked him if he was using them as bait.


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## Zonbie (Aug 24, 2009)

Firstly, many thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge Craig '450' , and thank-you patwah for having the foresight and enthusiasm to kick this topic off. I continue to learn, and forums such as this provide an excellent place to do so. This is an excellent Forum, with genuine information shared.......wonderful.

Moving forward....

I have fished for whiting for many years in and around Moreton Bay, and many many times on Fraser Island, though i have only ever fished for whiting with bait - Yabbies/Nippers and live Sand Worms. Until reading this Post, I did not know whiting could be caught on lures, (though have found Gulp Sand Worms to work quite well).

I understand what you have written with your technique explanation, though having only ever caught whiting with bait, and not ever seen or heard of them being caught on lures (let alone poppers), I am sitting here literally shaking my head. I will definitely give this a go, though are you really fair-dinkum when you say you out fish bait by 20:1?

As i said, i am constantly learning (am in my early 50's now) though am somewhat (very happily) blown away by what I have just read here. catching whiting on poppers...... I'll be buggered.

As asked above...are you fair-dinkum about the 20:1 figure? Any more information would be most appreciated.

I'm off to the www now to buy some of the Hb's you recommended....roll on the weekend ;-) Whiting = chicken-of-the-sea

Respectfully, Steve............. (i am in awe atm) :shock:


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

dishley said:


> If they spook so easily why have a constant noisy retrieve?? Wouldn't a slower retrieve work better on spooky fish?


They get spooked easily at the site of a yak mate, im pretty sure any fish would when they see a 4m long yak in 2ft of water with paddle blades coming towards them, which is why i mentioned to cast ahead of the yak so they see the lure before the yak.
I use a slow retreive when im surface luring Bream, and often have Whiting follow the lure, but 9 times out of 10 they dont hit it and shy away when the lure pauses. i occasionally pick one up while Bream fishing but not often, the fast retreive gets them going though and they approach quite aggressively. I think you just cant give them too much time to get a good look at the lure, thats just a theory, until i learn how to talk fish and ask them myself ill have to go with that :lol:



dishley said:


> You can still make a good deal of noise without going constantly nuts


I didnt say you have to go 'constantly nuts', but a fast aggressive retreive is what gets me and many others around here good results so thats how we fish for them. This is not how you HAVE to fish for them, if you prefer to do it a different way go for it. the point of this fish of the month thread is to share different techniques and they are mine, and im sure many others will have other ways of doing it completely different to my technique, and im sure we will see many different styles posted up soon.



dishley said:


> Do surface rings have anything to do with whiting poppering?


No, i dont pay any attention to surface rings, if i hear a Whiting take something off the surface (they usually make a bit of a sipping sound) i cast to it but if i see a ring form i usually just ignore it, its probably just mullet in the shallows :lol:



dishley said:


> Actually the first bloke i saw fishing for them i asked him if he was using them as bait.


Using Whiting as bait???


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## paffoh (Aug 24, 2006)

I used to think the same Dishley,

One thing Craig showed me many moons agao was the more bloops with speed I could get in before reaching the kayak the better. SIngle, slower style bloops seem to get ignored, pausing for them to catch up dont work either (They move off unphased). Good example is the wind blown popper trolling I tried when my exposed freeboard was causing fast drifts over the shallows. Threw the Hopper Popper back behind, turned my position in the seat, held the rod out to the side and blooped my ass off with as many small, rapid ones as I could. Like Marlin they light up and turn a mean shade of black, slashing like crazy and following in schools. Even the bigger more solitary 'Ting would join in with the pack. If you fish our Estuary systems often Prawns can be seen fleeing all day, my guess is they just cant pass up the opportunity to attack. Round here, the faster the flee the more attractive the reward... I cant seem to catch them on PX45's or anything else though!


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## crazyratwoman (Feb 26, 2007)

ive always got whiting on a long shank hook, with a yabbie and a small split shot sinker about a foot from the hook.... as i've said before i like to keep everything as simple as i can, it works for me


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

Zonbie said:


> As asked above...are you fair-dinkum about the 20:1 figure? Any more information would be most appreciated.
> :


Just to clear it up, im not saying that i can out fish any individual using bait 20:1 :lol: , but me personally using bait V's poppers, yes for sure, but as i mentioned i havent done a great deal of bait fishing for Whiting so in the hands of a more experienced bait fisho resluts would be different.
15 - 20 fish in a session is not uncommon, and my best result was 44 legal Whiting in a morning session between 7am to 12:30pm from Durras lake.

Squidder, Paffoh and Pescado all get the same results as i do using these lures and techniques and we have all helped each other refine it to what i consider almost perfect.


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## Shorty (May 11, 2008)

I like trolling for fish, i have not targetted whiting much but have been keen to get them on poppers for a while now,,i am wondering if i can get them on the troll while blooping ? seems it would save casting,,has anybody tried it yet,,i guess you need Pedal power for it to be effective,,, if nobodys tried it i will give it a go over the sand flats and report back.

Another thing i am wondering is could you get a bucket of chook pellets and run a bead of them over 100 meters or so (in skinny water ) and concentrate the whiting in that area and troll the line perhaps ?


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

Name/UserName: Dave (Justcrusin) Hedge
Where I fish:
NSW Central coast

Area I fish:
Two schools here for me one yak based one not, yak based sand and weed bed flats and the deeper bays adjactent during low tide. other one surf, whiting are prevelent in the surf up here.

Rod/Reel I use:
6'6" G USA with carbon fiber grips and titanium halide guides, reel shimano stradic 1000's

Hard Body Lure/Soft Plastic:
Surface lures: River2Sea bubblepop 35 and 45's, Ecogear PX45, Bevy Pencil, Squidgy worm, Gulp prawns, Squidgy lobby,

Bait I use:
i rarely use bait, but up here live worms in the surf kill them.

Technique:
For whiting like Craig I mainly will fish the shallows with surface lures. A constant fast retrieve rate is a must for whiting. Unlike bream and flatties that will strike on the pause whiting will lose interest if you stop. 
To answer Dishley question of lure movement I believe whiting are wake feeders, they chase a fish just sub surface quite aggresively.

Deeper water i use a front weighted plastic so the arse end is floating up waving about, whiting tend to chew down the plastic but they do have a very distinctive bite. Its like a constant gentle chew. If you strike too early they will spit the placcy. Its one of the hardest things if you know whiting are around an you feel that chew is not to strike, let them get the hook in there mouth.

Bait:

Pretty much only worms in the surf, they will take prawns but worms are heaps better. Tube worms tend to stay on the hook better and of course live worms work great compared to frozen. I try to use pyrimad sinkers in the surf to anchor the bait in position.

My hot tip:
For surf fishing DON'T use a beach rod an cast out behind the breakers for whiting, use a normal rod and cast into gutters with shore dumps six to eight feet from the shore.


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## Biggera Yakker (Jan 25, 2007)

I love whiting fishing!

Lots of good advice already said!

My hot tips is to find the school.
Move with the run in fishing and slowly cover ground a little bit quicker than the tide is running.
When you find the school slow down and move at the same rate as the run in.
Once you've found the school, keep following it and fish it sustainably (don't catch them all as it can be that easy to do - you want some for tomorrow)!
If you don't find them on the run in, pick a spot and wait for them on the run out, when they turn up dinner is nearly in the pan!


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## dunebuggy (Dec 21, 2008)

Some great advice in this thread. I haven't targeted whiting for years but since I got into yak fishing I am finding it to be more amd more like being "up close and personal" with the fish as compared to when I had a bass boat. I am really enjoying "the hunt" so to speak. After reading this thread I am definately going to spend some time targeting whiting. I have a clear floating popper about 40mm long with a black nose and tail. I think it's a bubble pop. I am wondering if it will do for a start.


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

dunebuggy said:


> I have a clear floating popper about 40mm long with a black nose and tail. I think it's a bubble pop. I am wondering if it will do for a start.


That will work just fine Dunebuggy, just keep at it until you hook your first one, after that they will be easy


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## dishley (Jan 20, 2009)

The place i've saw someone targeting whiting the fish were all under 25cms, which is why i was wondering why try and catch them?????? 
Now i know that you blokes like to eat them. To me it looks like a swimming fishfinger with a lot of bones. 
This particular place the whiting will swim around your ankles, in very clear water, and they look transparent. I guess that supports the clear popper theory. 
Perhaps i'll give it a try one day. Your posts are all very helpful


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

Yeh, if i get too many small ones in one area i generally move on.

Give it a go oneday, when they are up around 40cm i find they are quite fun to catch, so you never know, you may enjoy it.
Dont go expecting them to pull like a Bass does though, you will be dissapointed ;-)


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## josho (Nov 3, 2007)

Hi all,

Just one thing i found with the whiting to, is to use ultra light braid like 1-2 lb with 4 pound leader (although this is not ideal if you hook a flathead but its a worthy risk) to get a massive cast on the flats and a rod about 7foot is ideal. Also when you find whiting in ultra thin water you can actually see them "tailing". This is similar to the term mudding when bream fishing although what the whiting actually do are they have there nose in the nipper beds and are digging around and using the drive of there tail to help. Sometimes this may get mistaken for "just mullet" but in fact they are whiting. Another thing to i've found is in some place especially where the fish are tailing its better off go land based and wading the flats. I believe my most succesful popper on them has been the bubble pops and adding a smallbit of tincel or feathers on to the rear treble. NEVER stop the popper as said above when targetting whiting as this will definitly spook them as you are imitating a fleeing prawn or baitfish.

Josho 8)


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## aichepee (Jun 7, 2009)

"use ultra light braid like 1-2 lb with 4 pound leader (although this is not ideal if you hook a flathead but its a worthy risk" - caught an 80cm flatty on 4lb leader... what of it?

im rockin a reaction 101 with luvias 1003 and 2lb micro fuse. im really good at fishing so if i dont get twenty whiting its considered a terrible session. my favorite lure are hpuppie's mini skirts. they're like a marlin lure but 50mm long. i generally just troll them in my yak and when i see birds i know the whiting are coming... 
make sure when u fight the whiting on the flats you dont let them run... they might get u off on the snags... who know what lays beneath the surface.... so yeah lock drag and skulldrag them in.
good luck my best friends\

(mod edit)


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

> The place i've saw someone targeting whiting the fish were all under 25cms, which is why i was wondering why try and catch them??????
> Now i know that you blokes like to eat them. To me it looks like a swimming fishfinger with a lot of bones.


Like any fish mate there not all that small, in the first sydney ABT last year i got one on the surface as thick as my forearm huge whiting. Lake Mac in summer regularly gets them over the 40cm mark too.

They go like the clappers at this size two.

Cheers Dave


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## dishley (Jan 20, 2009)

justcrusin said:


> > The place i've saw someone targeting whiting the fish were all under 25cms, which is why i was wondering why try and catch them??????
> > Now i know that you blokes like to eat them. To me it looks like a swimming fishfinger with a lot of bones.
> 
> 
> ...


So i've discovered from this forum. They're still an ugly fish, no matter what size.
When i go to the sth coast again, i'll tie on my bubble-pop, rip the hell out of it and see what happens. Don't think i can bring myself to troll a popper though.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

I can't add much of value to Craig's fantastic post. The great man started me on the way of the surface lure, and we have enjoyed some champagne surface luring sessions together over the past few years. For whiting: crank those poppers hard. If you are missing hits: go even harder and faster, and don't pause the lure. I can remember two whiting I've caught by pausing the popper. Connect poppers with a loop knot. Don't end a session until your arm aches. No water is too shallow to catch whiting on poppers from. Look for the 'flash' of feeding whiting. Retie your leader knot every hour or so as machine gun casting and retrieving can be hard on knots. Favorite popper.....the one called hopper 8) Upgraded with owner split rings and #14 trebles, the hopper popper is a whiting/bream/flathead catching machine.










(mod edit)


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## pescado (May 17, 2007)

I dont really have much to add regarding techniques other than what the boys have already said.

The first time i saw anything to do with popping for whiting was at tuross when we ran across steve starling (love him or hate him the guy catches some serious fish) and he pulled out a net full these true bruiser tings that had fallen to bushy poppers. :shock: :shock:










Some tips that i can offer:

The wind is your friend with popping - i have had my best results on overcast days, around a new moon (when prawns are running) and there is a slight breeze for you to really get some distance with your popper.

Light braid - given that small bubblepops and storm poppers are so damn light you really need to use the lightest stuff possible - 1lb crystal fireline is good.

Keep your eyes peeled - a swirl on the surface, a skittering prawn, a tailing whiting, bowwaves are good signs of where to cast. I have got a few nice tings on plastics even by casting to a swirl or skittering prawn.

Water temps are key - craig might be able to provide a bit more detail on this, but once water temps get up around that 20degree mark its on! Popping for whiting is not a winter affair.

Learn the subtle difference in takes of a whiting vs a bream - still working on this one but if its a bream pause that popper, if its a ting....keep on bloopin!

Tuross is the home to some monster tings but they tend to wise up to surface presentations throughout a season maybe moreso than other areas...who knows what this season will bring.

Right thats about it for me, one last thing, as craig has said its not uncommon to catch cricket scores of tings when they are really on so only keep enough for a feed, and look after your catch with a cooler bag or similar. Get out there and get amongst it, anywhere you find yellowfin whiting feeding on prawns, they will smash a popper (its not just a south coast thing).

Cheers,


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## aichepee (Jun 7, 2009)

Some advice i can give that other people havent put yet is, dont just fish the flats when popping. although the flats are really productive and visually awesome, some good whiting can be taken in 2-3m of water. the other day i was fishing with my mate at currumbin and i decided to go and fish a pool that looked fairly fishy. straight away he said 'nah u wont get whiting on surface there, you cant see the bottom.' first cast and 3 bloops i was on. wasnt big but still a fish. especially fish where the dropoffs are. it also puts u in the game for other species such as trevs, tailor, queenies


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## LoboLoco (Feb 1, 2008)

if only king george whiting smashed poppers.....


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## Zonbie (Aug 24, 2009)

Well, after reading this most informative thread, I am off to try my luck popper-ing for whiting soon, and have 2 x questions if I may.

Craig, (I am VERY new to HB's) Do you use a swivel when rigging a popper?

Squidder, re your favourite hopper popper.......... What colour is the one attached to the giant in the photo?

Regards, Steve.


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## dishley (Jan 20, 2009)

I'm no whiting man but no swivels, a good loop knot will give you the best action, however a clip will do the job.


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

Hi all,

A tempting situation. An invitation to give advice on catching whiting.

No! *NOOOOO!

The moderators will cook me if I do*

Cheers all Andybear (the sometimes fearless, dependent on the phase of the moon!) :twisted: :twisted:


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## josho (Nov 3, 2007)

Hi all,

The loop knot i believe isn't the best personally. I think a knot tied strait to the popper gives a better action and your connected to it. The locked bloodknot is the knot of choice for me and no swivels.

Josho 8)


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## Levi (Nov 24, 2008)

Thanks Everyone for the great tips!!!! i have only ever taken them on SP's and divers.... now i am SOOOO keen to hit them up on poppers...

Just one question (well maybe 2)-

I have been keeping an eye out, though they dont seem too active around the Sydney region at the moment, so i was wondering, when do they really begin to come on the boil in this area.... (or are they already and i have just been wrong place wrong time?)
Been watchingf the nipper flats on the rising tide, though very little action at the moment...

Thanks


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

Levi said:


> Thanks Everyone for the great tips!!!! i have only ever taken them on SP's and divers.... now i am SOOOO keen to hit them up on poppers...
> 
> Just one question (well maybe 2)-
> 
> ...


Until the water warms up a bit more they're not all that aggressive however on warmer days in shallow water (where the water does heat up) you can catch them now. I only had my first follows a week or 2 ago, and peak summer is the best time


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## Levi (Nov 24, 2008)

Thanks Davey,

Appreciate the feedback.......

I'm now thinking back to last summer, when i was watching elbow slappers on the flats up at wooli.... if only i knew all the afore mentioned techniques then........

Cheers mate!


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

that was some fascinating stuff on the whiting on poppas and my post will seem sedate by comparison but should get you a feed.

use really light gear especially in leaders and sinkers
a little red bead on the leader
find a run in tide and the bigger the run in the better
pump some of these (though bloodworms are better)









the smaller yabs are actually better for whiting.

i find i catch them in bunches of 2 or 3 and then you wait a while and get a couple more

this pic near moreton shows a good spot. i cast just next to a weed patch as they hang there waiting for the run to build up









however the bigger ones tend to hang out in the muddier estuary waters. have caught a couple in the low 40s and one at 45.(on a filthy overcast day)
in se qld if someone says they got one over 50 i would suspect it was a bonefish which look very similar

cheers pete


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Jeez your southern whiting get fat.
Lb, I've always been told you want a bit of surface chop for effective poppering on the flats otherwise you'll spook the fish. Never done it though so that's recycled 2nd hand advice.
A real big whiting up here is 30cm 
Love the big sandies in Northern WA though.


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

LB, windy conditions are ideal, some of my best sessions have been on horrible days. One advantage is being able to cast with the wind behind you for belting out big casts.
On very windy days, i prefer the slightly larger poppers around 5-6cm, i find the smaller ones tend to nose dive into the wind chop where the bigger ones stay on the surface most of the time.
On days where the water is glassy calm, i use the plastics or shallow divers.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Zonbie said:


> Craig, (I am VERY new to HB's) Do you use a swivel when rigging a popper?
> 
> Squidder, re your favourite hopper popper.......... What colour is the one attached to the giant in the photo?


Definately no swivels. That particular colour is Phantom Orange but any of the phantom colours are worth throwing. But you've gotta upgrade the rings and trebles. Standard hardware on the hopper poppers is shocking - copper split rings and those bronzed hooks. Hoppers are great for whiting, but also attract some unexpected bycatch at times :shock:




















redphoenix said:


> DG: I'm thinking that hopper popper might be worth a shot on those bloody intransigent whiting on the conjola flats...
> Red.


Nope, no worky.


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

Squidder said:


> redphoenix said:
> 
> 
> > DG: I'm thinking that hopper popper might be worth a shot on those bloody intransigent whiting on the conjola flats...
> > Red.


The Px45's are the go for Conjola, ripped in really fast while constantly twitching the rod tip


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## Zonbie (Aug 24, 2009)

Many thanks for the info, Craig, Squidder and all.

A VERY interesting thread indeed.


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## fishmica (Sep 15, 2008)

Just on the line / leader thing, the handfull of times I've poppered for whiting I've used a light braid/ heavy leader (say 12lb but only short, say 30cm) - I saw this on a TV show where Starlo was poppering at Tuross, and it's worked for me. I think with such an aggressive retrieve the fish don't really notice the leader and it's good insurance for when a decent flattie hammers the popper. The other thing I do whe n doing the fast retrieved popper is , if I see a bowwave coming up behind the lure I pause as quite often it's a bream and they like to suck the popper off the top while it's motionless. Every whiting I've caught has hit the lure at full speed without warning. I'm not too sure about flatties, I've caught them both ways. Also, has anyone picked up any whiting on walk the dog style lures? - I've caught just about everything else with them but haven't caught a whiting on one yet.


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

fishmica said:


> Also, has anyone picked up any whiting on walk the dog style lures? - I've caught just about everything else with them but haven't caught a whiting on one yet.


Yep, still need to use the fast retreive though, they arent as effective as poppers but you will still pick up Whiting with them


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## forbs (May 20, 2008)

Great advice in these posts from craig and others. I was lucky enough to fish with one of the pioneers of popper fishing for whiting(Captain Kev) a few years ago and everything mentioned in this thread is good. The short leader is right and thats what we used. We used a locked knot and fast retrieve. Slightly windy choppy conditions were great. If you don't want to spend $18.00 for a popper try the 3 for $10.00 surecatch ones 45mm long in a plastic case. You can buy them at BCF that's what the guides used( work as well as my clear rebel pop'R, bubblepops and Bushy's, although the Bushy poppers cast an absoloute mile). As he was a guide his aim was to catch fish for clients so we targeted Bream, Whiting and Flathead mainly over the shallows.

We used to cast as far as you could, bloop it a couple of times - pause once for bream and flathead then fast blooping retrieve the rest of the way. This way we could catch the bream/flathead on the pause then rip it in faster for the whiting. Poppers are great for Bream also so get good at using them they're great over racks and in snags. Because the Surecatch ones are so cheap you can afford to cast them into snags and have a great chance of catching a big bream it's a good way of practising casting close to snags.

The whiting out of Tuross were all 35-45cm and fought harder than Bream i found. Unfortunatley Tuross is landlocked and the Whiting have seen so many surface lures they know the difference between a Surecatch, Rebel and Bubble pop. They do seem to wise up quickly. I used to catch 20 a day and now i'm lucky to catch 4 or 5. Only ever kept a couple to eat.

Surface poppers are my favourite form of fishing even flathead come alive when they smash a surface lure.

Tight lines


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## johnny (Aug 12, 2007)

the old attack minnows trolled...little lures best....nippers as mentioned-anywhere anytime....and they get curious when you pump nippers as mentioned...look for shallows,edges of river,lagoon...40,000 to fillet for a nice meal of battered fish..


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

I fish the in the southeast queensland area and these are a couple of tips that I have for bait fishing whiting from Brisbane to Fraser island. If fishing from beaches remember to 'fish your feet first' as the whiting will move in and out with the wave surges as they wash up and down the beach hoping to pick off any small pippies, worms crabs etc that have been washed from their home by the moving sands. Soldier crabs make a good bait for whiting but they need to be little ones that are still black and aobut the size of a garden pea. Thread about 6 or 7 of them up a long shank hook and fish them with a heavy sinker so that they stay in the one spot, this way they look like they are all schooled together for safety. When fishing with worms or yabbies keep the bait moving by using as light a sinker as possible so the tide can waft the bait around or even just slowly wind the line in. I prefer to use worms over yabbie banks and yabbies in areas where you would expect to find worms, the whiting seem to not be able to resist grabbing this opportunity to get something different to what they are actually hunting for.

Whiting on poppers are definately on my list of things to do this summer and the info in this thread has been priceless. Top stuff guys thanks for sharing.

Kev


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## dishley (Jan 20, 2009)

That'd be great Red, this thread seems to have got a few of us keen at having a go at a new species, or an old species in a new way.


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## soggypilchard (Dec 1, 2008)

craig450 said:


> fishmica said:
> 
> 
> > Also, has anyone picked up any whiting on walk the dog style lures? - I've caught just about everything else with them but haven't caught a whiting on one yet.
> ...


guys
when you talk about walk the dog type lures, are you referring to jitterbugs?


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## dishley (Jan 20, 2009)

No not jitterbugs, walking lures are bibless. Luckycrafty sammy65 is a great walk the dog lure.


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

The Ecogear Px45 is another great walk the dog type lure.
Also Jaz lures have released a copy of the Sammy, a bit smaller its called a Zappa, 55mm and has a great action at about half the price of the Sammy its a great lure.
Smith Towadi is another good one for bream and Whiting.


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## soggypilchard (Dec 1, 2008)

ok cool cheers
i have these heddon lures with spinning zippy propellers on them, never really given them much use, similar to walk the dogs?

cool vids here of ecogears


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