Sand whiting are biting

[josmo99]

Due to the recent rain, I've been fishing down at the Gold Coast broadwater this past fortnight from shore and have been catching sand whiting around the 27-30cm mark, for anyone interested in chasing them. I've moved on from winter whiting ... for now.

Also if anyone is interested in getting together for a week-day fish, let me know. I'm getting bored fishing alone.

Cheers

[lethalsaints]

Good Catches..

[Mr FeLiX]

Not bad, I've had no luck with the sandies of late, keep getting plauged by the little fellas. Using worms and yabbies with your standard whiting rig. As for the weekday fish, I head down that way quite a bit, I'll let you know.

Good luck on your next outing

[josmo99]

Hi folks

Popped down to Lota this morning to fish the incoming tide. The fish were biting like mad in the short time I had to fish. These are the 3 bream I caught, the two smaller ones are 26cm and the third fella is almost 32cm, not monsters by any stretch of the imagination but still nice fish. I also caught a few 23-24cm sand whiting and dropped a much bigger one (probably ~30cm+) at my feet. Would have probably caught more whiting but wasted a good deal of time fighting a metre long shovelnose and then a wild rampaging stingray, both which were released.

Would be nice to get into a trevally of some size. I've been told that trevally come on the sand flats with the rising tide so was hoping to hook one, probably wishful thinking

Anyone on the forums ever catch a decent trevally while out fishing for whiting?

Cheers

[josmo99]

Hi Mr FeliX

Yeah, there are a lot of little sandies (and breams/tarwhines). While it's a bit frustrating, it's a sign of a healthy environment. There are still quite a few of their winter cousins mixed in too. When I'm targeting winter whiting I usually use prawn, the summer whiting aren't all that interested in that bait.

[Do$tylz]

hey josmo,

nice catch there mate. I've tried for trevs at high tide once before on those flats but no luck... I was wading about but not too far out past the first sandbar... any further and I'd get stuck and drown.

[josmo99]

Hi Do$tylz

I wandered around at low tide and noticed numerous circular depressions in the sand, don't think they're from yabbie pumping. I've read that trevally and big whiting leave these kind of impressions when they forage in the sand 'standing' on their heads. Hence I was hoping for a trevally.

Have only seen a handful of flathead lies but I saw your photo of the Lota flattie, that's a nice fish.

Yep, that stuff sucks you down and there's no escape This morning there was a massive commotion close behind me in about a foot of water, scared the crap outta me! Whatever it was, it was big and I'm guessing it just chomped on one of those little blue swimmer crabs.

[Do$tylz]

yeah, with summer coming on, that spot should fire up. Come to think of it... I think I've only ever caught 3 legal bream at that spot.... always whiting and flatties.

If you ever see me there, say G'day Usually the asian dude with a camo bumbag slung over his shoulders.

[josmo99]

We should swap fish next time. I seem to catch mostly bream at every spot I've tried. Since moving to Brisbane mid-year, my tally is about 19 legal bream and 1 legal flathead (foul hooked would you believe it!). This morning I was hoping for a few thumper summer whiting or something exotic like flounder but no, it was bream again.

OK will do. Cheers, Joe

[robin]

josmo99 wrote:

Due to the recent rain, I've been fishing down at the Gold Coast broadwater this past fortnight from shore and have been catching sand whiting around the 27-30cm mark, for anyone interested in chasing them. I've moved on from winter whiting ... for now.

Also if anyone is interested in getting together for a week-day fish, let me know. I'm getting bored fishing alone.

Cheers

Im available during the day next Thursday

[harfish]

i have next thursday off at this stage and would like a good feed of whitting.Give me a call earlier next week on 0400256478. I will know by tuesday if the day is still available. Where do you intend fishing?

[josmo99]

harfish wrote:

i have next thursday off at this stage and would like a good feed of whitting.Give me a call earlier next week on 0400256478. I will know by tuesday if the day is still available. Where do you intend fishing?

I haven't had a lot of luck with big whiting - the only fish I dropped today WAS a big whiting

Unfortunately my leave is finished and I'm back at work so no more mid-week fishing sessions for me until Xmas. Occasionally I work a half day so if the tide is right, I'll have a fish. I'd probably pick the Gold Coast, only because that's where I've had most success with whiting. It's a high tide in the late arvo next Thu I think.

[stinkyibis]

hi guys yes the summer whiting are going alrite at the moment, been getting plenty in the sand flats around the spit and also at wellington point where the tide rushes over the sand bank on the incoming tide. not too much luck with the odd poppers like some guys are doing but been having more luck with worm type soft plastics, especially the trusty 6 inch gulp sandworms cut in half or the 2 inch ones. theyll also take the 2 inch gulp shrimps but because theyre fatter i think the hookup rate is not as good. as far as trevally go, yes they do come up to sandy banks with the incoming tide but i dont get many, then again, i dont specifically target them. in the last month ive landed maybe 3 goldens and a couple of little giants, all while bream/flathead fishing landbased. one of the goldens was taken on a drifting prawn, but the others were all taken on squidgy stealth prawns and gulp 2 inch shrimps (which they seem to really like). i dont know if these are good places to try but the junction of coombabah creek and the coomera river and also nerang river near the pacific motorway are where i got my trevally. Im going out this thursday in the Logan river and probably heading straight to the pin to smack some (hopefully) big flatties and bream, but im gonna have a crack at targeting jacks in the snags. I havent made a report yet but if im taking the camera along, if i get anything decent ill put some pics up.

[Do$tylz]

good to see you posting again stinky You going Thursday night??

[yoyo]

with the gulp sandworms, do you rig them on a standard whiting hook & rig, or do you use a small jighead?

[51MPL]

yeah i'd be interested to know how you target whiting with sp's.. with a jighead and bounce them off the bottom back slowly?

or just a slow retrieve so the 'worm' shape just comes back?

[smithey]

josmo99 I am going to head down the coast to try a few spots while i'm on holidays at xmas. if you don't mind where abouts do you head at loters creek?

[Kboukes]

Im tempted! A few weeks ago we were at the beach right on surfer's and were watching a guy fishing a gutter. Cast in 6 times each time pulled out a monster whiting!

[yoyo]

i was fishing right at surfers every night last week and landed a keeper every time as well...

[Master Sardines]

caught a couple last week, sand banks near my place, this one 38

[roobs]

hey mate if you want to try and get on to trevs in that area try near the sundale bridge and the roped-in swimming area on sunrise or dusk.

[stinkyibis]

@dostylz, nah im heading to the pin in 5 hours im excited and i cant sleep. im going to have restless dreams of a 50+ jack attack. @yoyo and 51mpl, theres not a whole lot of exact science to whiting on sps, and its quite easy. the times i have been successful ive used a variety of hook setups and they all work. i normally would go with a very light jighead 1/16 oz or less with a size 4 or 6 hook with a 6 inch sandworm cut in half. i know some guys just use an unweighted hook but itll depend on how far you can cast, cos usually the water will be about a metre deep to do this effectively. the colours i use are natural, blood, camo and motor oil and i havent had any troubles getting them to bite so i guess its whatever you chuck, just try a diff colour if they dont like it. as far as using a stinger hook i have tried this when they just werent hooking up, and all you do is leave a big tag end when tying the initial hook or jighead and tie a hook to that, baitholder style is what ive used, size 6 or 8 would be the go. you could also try using a nice owner treble, thatd definitely get em. what ive found though is that when they werent hooking up on the take, its usually cos the whiting were very small, cos generally they just suck the whole worm in all the way to the jighead, but i guess the stinger arrangement adds insurance for the non-lazy fisherman. when casting i just look for them and cast over them and bring it back with a shaky kind of retrieve or small little lifts to keep it wiggling near the bottom, then when they suck it in and start to move off you just let the rod load up a bit and give it a quick lift. ive read that the most effective way is to cast upcurrent of the fish and bring it back with a slowish retrieve so that the worm really moves with the current and suspends a little more giving it a very natural presentation. sometimes i think you could land nearly as many whiting on sps as bait but id never bet my house on it. hope this helps, it is a lot of fun and anyone can do it

[stinkyibis]

i can also def. vouch for roobs with the sundale bridge area. the swimming area has produced trevally for me land-based, although none were of a very good size

[thetman]

wouldnt mind chassin a few whiting, ive seen a few trav up in close before but havnt caught one in the shallows.

thats a healthy looking whiting master sardines

[Do$tylz]

good info there stinky

[51MPL]

thanks for taking the time to reply champ! goodluck and i'll be down coast within next few weeks to try for some whiting

edit - i've hired a tinny just left of that enclosed fishing area and there was a massive school of big bream right in the shallows there!

[josmo99]

smithey wrote:

josmo99 I am going to head down the coast to try a few spots while i'm on holidays at xmas. if you don't mind where abouts do you head at loters creek?

Hey Smithey

Sorry for the slow reply, haven't been on the forums for a while.

I fished near the mouth of the creek not in the creek itself. Of course that area is not accessible all the time, so don't get stuck and drown!

[josmo99]

Master Sardines wrote:

caught a couple last week, sand banks near my place, this one 38

That's a MONSTER!! Well done.

[josmo99]

roobs wrote:

hey mate if you want to try and get on to trevs in that area try near the sundale bridge and the roped-in swimming area on sunrise or dusk.

OK thanks. Is Sundale a suburb?

[goldnugget]

Interesting read on the SP's for whiting..I'm still struggling to catch one on bait.....time will tell I guess.

[josmo99]

goldnugget wrote:

Interesting read on the SP's for whiting..I'm still struggling to catch one on bait.....time will tell I guess.

You'd be surprised how easy it is to hook them when they're around and in the mood. Big whiting tend to hook themselves if you let them. I'd say a majority of the ones I've caught (on bait) are gill or gut hooked. Finding them is probably the hard bit, I haven't been able to consistently locate them in numbers. The last time I found a good school, bream and rays got in the way and scared 'em off. *grumble*

[stinkyibis]

yeah no worries i hope ya get a few. Ive really struggled in the last week to raise many fish but some big flathead, tarwhine and bream have been lifted. the bream school near the enclosed area sounds nice tho maybe there are some big ones @goldnugget: I would agree with josmo they do tend to hook themselves the biggest one ive seen caught this week was on a 3/0hook with a pilchard head bait dropped straight down with the drag running free in 3m of water, went 34cm to the tip. i think you just gotta find them, theyre dont seem to be a smart fish and ive got lots on small plastics not intended for whiting by foul hooking them in the side, probably when they rushed around it to investigate it

[josmo99]

This arvo I took friends from Canberra for a fish. I wasn't expecting to catch anything decent as the tide was at the wrong time of day. Boy was I wrong! Their 3 little daughters caught whiting after whiting, the action was non-stop. By the time we ran out of bait, we had 8 keeper sandies and 1 bream.

I spent most of the time baiting and casting for them but on my 2nd last cast for the day I hooked up to a solid fish. It powered off into the channel, peeling drag so I had to chase it. I finally got it into the shallows and what did the fish do?! It decided to change direction and charged into my legs. Damn, that hurt! Turned out to be a 31 cm trevally of some sort with blo*dy sharp scutes near its tail wrist. It's not a monster but I have my trevally from the sand flats, yeeeah! I took a photo on the camera phone but forgot to save it

[josmo99]

I know this post is a bit late as I'd forgotten I have an account on AFO. Anyway here goes...

Got these whiting (smallest 23cm, largest probably over 30cm) and a solitary bream from Lota in Jan just before the flood. Whiting numbers last summer have been reasonable but this was an exceptional catch. I was getting a keeper whiting on every cast. I could have easily doubled the numbers but figured it's best not to be *too* greedy plus the more I caught the more I had to clean!

Turned out this was the last catch of the season as I never went back to Lota after the flood.