Fishing For Whiting

Without doubt one of Australia's favourite fish to catch and eat is the good old Whiting.

They are found mainly on beaches and estuary systems right along the coast of Australia. There are so many different ways to catch these hard fighting and tasty fish, from live bait through to surface lures. Years gone by most fishos used live Yabbies pumped off the flats or worms for Whiting, which is still a very effective way to target them, but boy have things changed for many other fishos.

Chasing Whiting on surface lures has taken off dramatically and proves to be a very exciting way to catch them. Many of the small poppers from Zerek, Bassday Sugapens, and Berkely Pop Dogs are just a few examples of what work really well while chasing Whiting.

The technique is pretty easy and sometimes you can get 3 or 4 Whiting competing for your lure. Fishing the last 3 hours of the run-out tide seems to work best for Whiting in many estuary systems right up on top of the flats. Whiting will eat poppers and small stickbaits in literally inches of water at times, so don’t be afraid to cast right up into the shallows. The retrieve should be at a constant speed with an occasional pause. If you see Bream kissing at your lure, more pauses work well. If you’re using a popper, just short sharp pops with your rod tip down will see Whiting climb all over your lure. They see them as a prawn skipping over the surface trying to escape being eaten. On super light gear like 4lb braid and 4lb fluorocarbon leader it’s very fun fishing.

Tight lines and good luck!