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Central Coast whiting


Scienceman

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Caught this nice bag on Saturday morning off the beach on the rising tide. 27 - 34cm. Quite spread out so needed to do a lot of searching. Identified a likely location where I caught one or two and kept at it until the results came, on the last of the run in/first of the run out, even when the sun came out at 11am they were still biting. Left when I ran out of beach worms.

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Nice haul Scienceman.

question. When you are fishing for these on the beach, do you go where the surf is or do you go to the quieter spots away from the surf?

are you fishing in gutters?

i just ask because I was at killcare beach on Saturday morning and the surf was quite big (clean offshore) . I wondered whether it would be worth chasing whiting.

cheers

arron

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44 minutes ago, rickmarlin62 said:

nice bag of whiting dude...they feed on the back of sandbanks covered with white water..waiting for the food to come to them...but..sometimes ive got them in two foot deep clear gutters..i spose its wherever they are finding food...rick

Thanks Rick. 

By ‘back of sandbank’ do you mean the ocean side, or the beach side.

Cheers

arron

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No, Rick, definately not the beach side of the sand bar unless you don't mind catching darts, breams, flathead, trevaley, tailor, salmon, jewfish and couldn't focus on whiting

Edited by wchh
Should have addressed "Rick" instead of "nick"
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11 hours ago, rickmarlin62 said:

beach side mate...the  wave action washes the food into the gutter..rick

Thanks. I thought so but just needed to clarify.

i didn’t grow up near a beach so don’t necessarily know the terminology.

arron

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Ideally I like some swell to create sand disturbance on the sand banks, usually 1 - 1.5m. Also a rising to high and early fall tide but if I am in the mood I'll try any tide. I like to pick a sand bank with white water on top and with deeper water to one side, usually a gutter running out to deep water. I  try a few casts on the bank just in case they are up on it feeding. Water flow off the bank is not always obvious especially on a high tide so the direction of the breaking waves at the back of the sand bank can indicate this. I'll then try some casts on the side of the sand bank that the water is flowing into. If it is low light or early/late in the day this is usually the best location. If nothing there I'll try the deeper gutter. This is often where the fish go as the tide drops or the day gets sunny.

If you don't get much then walk down the beach to the next bank/gutter and try again. Need to be patient as on this day the fish didn't bite at first light and it took me 1.5 hours for the first keeper. Then as the tide got near the top I found a good location with slow but regular bites/fish and just kept at it for a couple of hours more to get my 7 keepers.

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On 3/21/2018 at 8:02 AM, rickmarlin62 said:

beach side mate...the  wave action washes the food into the gutter..rick

I'm with Rick on this one. Fish can feed anywhere but you're more likely to catch them where they usually feed and with what they usually feed on. You can catch whiting almost anywhere but in my experience they're more likely to be caught on the bar itself (higher tide) or on the edge of the gutter that the wave pushes into (lower tide). 

You'll hear different info off most people so I suggest trying everything and seeing what works. On my local beach I've spent countless hours snorkeling in all types of conditions to see what fish do (and because I love it).

Cheers, James

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Ok, I tried these suggestions at Killcare/Putty Beach yesterday. The tide wasn’t ideal (low) and the time wasn’t ideal (7am to 10:30am). 0.5 to 1 mtr swell.

Anyway, only one whiting. Main problem seemed to be that most of my precious beach worms were gobbled by small dart.

I knew it was going to be difficult because it was sunny, clear water and shallow, but I still can’t see how to get my expensive baits past these little bait stealers.

Is there a solution, or am I just on the wrong beach at the wrong time.

cheers

arron

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1 hour ago, Volitan said:

 The tide wasn’t ideal (low) and the time wasn’t ideal (7am to 10:30am). 0.5 to 1 mtr swell.

I knew it was going to be difficult because it was sunny, clear water and shallow, 

on the wrong beach at the wrong time

I think you've nailed it already with the excerpts above.  You've proved what everyone says, that whiting can be caught anytime, but if you fish ideal conditions you'll have better luck I think. 

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Try to avoid dart while fishing for whiting? No answer from me on this one. Dart and whiting feed in the same area of the beach apart from darts are a lot faster, swim/feed in schools and can also be in slightly rougher water. If I come across this situation, I would happily take some of the larger darts if they are  +35cm nose to tail.

Charles

 

 

 

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I have recently switched to a double dropper (6lb fluorocarbon) paternoster with a medium star sinker at the bottom. Works a treat and probably accounts for a few extra fish over a few hours fishing. Occasionally one fish will take both baits!

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