# NSW - first whiting on blades



## brant78 (Jun 24, 2012)

Hi all.

Sibbo and I headed down to the south coast of NSW for a go at popper fishing for whiting. I was already down there so headed out and got on the water just before 6am. Sibbo was driving down from the berra so joined me a bit later.










I flogged some good water early but to no avail apart from the worlds smallest tailor on a popper.
When Sibbo joined me we headed up to our favourite flats and along the way tried out some spots. The action wasn't spectacular but we got a few fish. Then Sibbo tied on the old faithful px45 389 and started cleaning up with some good whiting and a bream from memory. I tied on the same one and caught NOTHING for a while and was particularly frustrated. :twisted: 
But then I got onto some good fish and caught a nice whiting (35cm)










and a nice bream (+30cm)










So I started to feel better.
We went around the corner and hit some slightly deeper water but the wind dropped off and it was glass. Nice bit of rain and very few other people out there which was nice. So the popper fishing stopped and we started with the blades. Now it gets cool.

Firstly, Sibbo hasn't caught a fish on blades so when I showed him my gold zx30 he was a little sceptical. I tried to tell him it was the golden chalice that Squidder had passed onto me and I had success in that very spot. He didn't believe me.

So I passed on some tips on blade fishing and managed to catch a few good fish, bream and whiting (my first whiting on a blade!)



















Sibbo hadn't caught anything and started to get all whingy and saying stuff like 'this doesn't work, i want to go home, going to tie on a popper'. A bit of a pep talk and some choice words and he was back. Then he started catching some cracker fish and was hooked! 
The funniest thing was twice he got a wind knot or a tangle and had the blade on the bottom in about 1m of water. While he was untangling his line (for about 20 seconds or more) and cursing and swearing some fish were inspecting his lure. When he got out his tangle, he started to wind up and TWICE there were massive whiting on the end (+35cm). So that is interesting.










We had another crack with the poppers but alas it wasn't to be.

All in all it was a nice day. We took home a nice feed of whiting and flathead (mostly on blades) and felt happy. We also got into some good bream - both black and yellowfin (most of the photos didn't come out) which fought hard.
Sibbo also caught a couple of garfish on either the popper or the blade. Can't tell.

Sibbo can load up some photos too from his camera.

So blades work for whiting and a bunch of other fish. Interesting that when the surface action stopped the blades were killing it. A tip for when it goes quiet. The other thing was that we were leaving the blades on the bottom for quite a while and that worked a treat. S factor smeared all over it too is handy!


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Great reporting Brant and some sweet photos as well. So cool that you guys tried something different when the poppers weren't working, and were rewarded handsomely! Blades are something I had not considered when the whiting are playing hard to get on the surface, but certainly will from now on. It has always amazed me that fish will pick up a stationary piece of metal off the bottom, but there you go. Also, that gold zx was passed on to me from Craig450 so it has gone through a few hands now. Don't lose it! :twisted:


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## brant78 (Jun 24, 2012)

Thanks mate. I told Sibbo to give it back so the lure stays in good hands.  I had to replace the trailing hooks but the blade is in great shape. I reckon it has caught 20+ fish in the last few outings.
Going to order some more!
I'm seriously going to try the blades a bit more because it was super fun and they smashed it. Apart from the bream which tended to be more subtle with little bites etc the flathead hit it hard and almost always on the drop or on the bottom, but the bigger whiting I caught hit it sinking to the bottom after a lift and absolutely smashed it. But Sibbo caught some of his when they were dead on the bottom, so I don't know! Also, our hook up rate on the blades was really high compared to the poppers. So the conversion was much better.
Great fun!


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Squidder said:


> Great reporting Brant and some sweet photos as well. So cool that you guys tried something different when the poppers weren't working, and were rewarded handsomely! Blades are something I had not considered when the whiting are playing hard to get on the surface, but certainly will from now on. It has always amazed me that fish will pick up a stationary piece of metal off the bottom, but there you go. Also, that gold zx was passed on to me from Craig450 so it has gone through a few hands now. Don't lose it! :twisted:


Great session Brant.

As Jason said, that is amazing (I don't even own a blade, but 2 minutes on eBay will fix that). I've tried poppers a couple of times, for nil results (actually caught two decent flatties instead), but blades have to be worth a go now. Thanks for sharing the info.

trev


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## RacingDan (May 16, 2011)

Thanks for the report Brant. Sounds like a very fun session.

I think I might recognise that South Coast spot - it definitely looks familiar. If it is the one i am thinking of I also had some luck down there recently and will have to post a separate report and some pics.

Haven't had any luck on the whiting as yet this season and you've now inspired me to give the blades a crack for them. Were you using the slow lift technique?

Many thanks
Dan


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## Sibbo (Aug 11, 2012)

Thanks for drafting up the report Brant. Was greeted on arrival by a large stinkboat roaring at full noise past the 4 knots sign :twisted: . Great I thought to myself. Thankfully this was one of only three boats we seen all day, and the only one with no consideration for anyone else or the rules. I think the rain might have kept a few of the less committed boaters away.

I met Brant shortly after launch but he had only managed to secure what would be one of the many 10cm tailor we continued to catch throughout the day. While I am on tailor it amazing that at fish of this size can get all three trebles inside its mouth.

The trusty PX45 has been getting a solid work out lately and the species list significantly expanded this weekend. I managed to land a couple of gar as well as a small mullet. All were mouth hooked so I don't think there was any foul hook action. Shame mullet are not more interested in artificial's as I can only imagine they would pull somewhat like a mud marlin of equivalent size&#8230;.hard.

Before the place glassed out I managed two mid 30 whiting and a one very hungry bream.









Tied on my first blade on Sunday and although I may have been somewhat sceptical (not the extent Brant like to make out - thanks pal :lol: ) I persisted. The addition of S factor seemed to be the turning point and a series of bream and whiting followed. Interesting as mentioned by Brant the two best fish I got on a blade followed a good rest on the bottom while I sorted wind knots. Wasnt exactly skillful but hey whatever works....  









I am certainly a convert and well this is lucky as I bought half a dozen ecogear blades on ebay the other day. Looking forward to seeing if I can back it up in a few weeks time. All up a great day out, made even better with the feed of fresh whiting I enjoyed tonight.


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## brant78 (Jun 24, 2012)

RacingDan said:


> Thanks for the report Brant. Sounds like a very fun session.
> 
> I think I might recognise that South Coast spot - it definitely looks familiar. If it is the one i am thinking of I also had some luck down there recently and will have to post a separate report and some pics.
> 
> ...


Yeah we were casting out a fair way from the boat and letting it sink to the bottom. Then using a short double lift technique to kick it off the bottom for about 30-40cm and flutter back down. So it wasn't a dead slow lift but enough to fill solid vibrations up your braid. Sibbo found that sitting it on the bottom worked well too. So we tried a variety of techniques.


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

Excellent reporting guys! Sounds like a great day with some solid fish 

I have had some good results fishing the flats for Whiting with blades in quite a few different lakes, and i remember getting a cracker at lake Conjola fishing with Paddy at the Lake Conjola meet a couple of years ago. Just casting as far as i can, and ripping it back with a fast constant retrieve. Awesome fun and as you say, a great option for the times they wont touch a surface lure 

Also, fishing the main channel from the boat ramp to the channel markers i have caught some great Luderick on blades as well, they are always worth a shot if your after a bit of a change 8)

Thanks for sharing guys


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## RacingDan (May 16, 2011)

brant78 said:


> RacingDan said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for the report Brant. Sounds like a very fun session.
> ...


Excellent, thanks Brant. Appreciate the tip. Look forward to giving it a crack next time i'm out.


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## brant78 (Jun 24, 2012)

craig450 said:


> Excellent reporting guys! Sounds like a great day with some solid fish
> 
> I have had some good results fishing the flats for Whiting with blades in quite a few different lakes, and i remember getting a cracker at lake Conjola fishing with Paddy at the Lake Conjola meet a couple of years ago. Just casting as far as i can, and ripping it back with a fast constant retrieve. Awesome fun and as you say, a great option for the times they wont touch a surface lure
> 
> ...


The fast constant retrieve sounds more like something whiting would hook onto. Not sure why they were picking off the sitting lure as that seems to go against the literature on how to catch them.
Still, I'm keen to try some more ways to catch fish on blades.
I have heard of luderick on blades but never had much success. Will have to give it a crack.
What sort of retrieve do you use for the luderick? They are good fun to catch and in clean water taste nice too.


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## RacingDan (May 16, 2011)

brant78 said:


> craig450 said:
> 
> 
> > Excellent reporting guys! Sounds like a great day with some solid fish
> ...


I've had some success on the Luderick using small dark coloured blades with a long slow lift technique. I would basically start with the rod pointing horizontally and ending with it pointing vertically. I've always had my hits on the drop.

Good luck with it.


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## theGT58 (Nov 1, 2011)

Great report,

Well I'll be! Whiting on blades, wouldn't have thought it but then again they do catch a large number of fish you'd not expect.

Guess I'd best be off to the tackle store to add to the collection lol


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

brant78 said:


> What sort of retrieve do you use for the luderick? They are good fun to catch and in clean water taste nice too.


I did an article for Rob Pax not too long ago about Luderick on blades.

Ill see if i can did it up tomorrow and send it to you mate


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## brant78 (Jun 24, 2012)

craig450 said:


> brant78 said:
> 
> 
> > What sort of retrieve do you use for the luderick? They are good fun to catch and in clean water taste nice too.
> ...


Sweet. Thanks mate.


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## wetaline2 (Oct 28, 2011)

Some nice fish there one topwater and blades! Keep uo the good work guys and good write-up.


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## Thegaff (Apr 19, 2011)

I didnt even know whiteing on blades was a thing, ive never herd of it.


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## wetaline2 (Oct 28, 2011)

I've caught bream, flathead, tailer, bass, even a flying fish, but have't got a whiting on a blade yet!


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

When I use blades I catch rocks. I've never used a blade for more than 3 casts. I must try them on a nothing but sand.

It looks like that lake is running hot all summer. I love my px45s, but they don't get enough action as I rarely get the opportunity to fish in summer. I may have to head down to the flats now and give it a few casts before the cricket starts. I saw some monster whiting right next to the boardwalk yesterday. Maybe I should take my ecogear blades too.


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## SLB (Jul 8, 2010)

nice report mate, yeah i reckon dead sticking is deadly when it goes quiet and fishing gets tough. i have left my blade on the bottom for over a minute to get this one bream to bite.


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