New Tactic For Whiting

[Giffo]

My local sand flat in Grays Point is known to hold lots of whiting but after numerous sessions pumping nippers and trying to get a feed of whiting,  instead having  very sore arms after each session. I have been trying to catch whiting on this very flat for 10 years. The day had finally come when I found out how to catch these whiting. When my son came home with 8 whiting between 30 and 35 cm.  I had to tag along the next session to see how he did it.  I was bemused when he said that he left the motor in gear  the whole time. He was trolling for whiting!!!. he says the moving nipper along the flats targets the bigger fish. before we knew it he had beaten his personal best whiting and pulled one in the net measuring 42 cm. along with 5 of his mates. none of which were undersize.  A prolific tactic used in deep sea fishing can be used to good effect in 1 metre of water.   

[Yowie]

Some big whiting can be caught from those sandflats. 

[bluefin]

Yes Whiting like a moving bait. I do a lot of walking over sand flats  dragging a worm behind me !!  Howard.

[noelm]

Been doing that for decades at Narooma, pump Nippers at low tide, troll them by walking around at high tide, similar at Lake Illawarra down near the entrance.

[wazatherfisherman]

5 minutes ago, noelm said:

Been doing that for decades at Narooma, pump Nippers at low tide, troll them by walking around at high tide, similar at Lake Illawarra down near the entrance.

That's called "the Windang Whiting method" Noel!- My Grandma had the first aluminium boat with an outboard motor at Windang and we used to pile in the boat, get out on the second mudbank (from Syd side) and walk the squirt worms with the tide, always Whiting for dinner in those days (60's)

[Yowie]

21 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:

That's called "the Windang Whiting method" Noel!- My Grandma had the first aluminium boat with an outboard motor at Windang and we used to pile in the boat, get out on the second mudbank (from Syd side) and walk the squirt worms with the tide, always Whiting for dinner in those days (60's)

During the 60's, my grandparents owned a small red and white rowboat with their caravan at Windang van park (to the west of the bridge) and I rowed that boat anywhere from near the entrance up to the start of the lake.

Caught stacks of fish and had some of the old farts following me because the colours of the boat stood out.

Out the front of the van park was a small island where I pumped squirt worms, and caught whiting standing in less than knee deep water, where others in their boats caught only a few whiting. That taught me to fish for whiting in shallow water on the run up tide, with a moving bait.

[noelm]

And those techniques still work, technology changes, fancy gear comes and goes, but the fish is a simple creature and hasn't changed in hundreds of years.

[wazatherfisherman]

2 hours ago, Yowie said:

During the 60's, my grandparents owned a small red and white rowboat with their caravan at Windang van park (to the west of the bridge) and I rowed that boat anywhere from near the entrance up to the start of the lake.

Caught stacks of fish and had some of the old farts following me because the colours of the boat stood out.

Out the front of the van park was a small island where I pumped squirt worms, and caught whiting standing in less than knee deep water, where others in their boats caught only a few whiting. That taught me to fish for whiting in shallow water on the run up tide, with a moving bait.

Oaklands I think was the caravan park (I was only a kid) our boat was called "Topper" had a small top hat and cane painted on the bow. It used to be chained to the Casuarina tree next to the water. Motor was just sitting on a trolley inside the annex, which was only ever clipped up, never locked, never had anything stolen from the annex 

That island was called "Treasure Island" by us- squirt worms the treasure! Just on shore opposite the island was "The deep hole"- we were banned from going anywhere near it as kids

Edited October 7, 2019 by wazatherfisherman
added more

[noelm]

There was/is a few caravan parks at Windang, Oaklands was one and three more I think, most are just permanent home kind of things now, the council park on the eastern side of the bridge is very popular in summer.

[noelm]

Just thought of the other names, Beachcomber, Oasis and I think Blue Dolphin was another one.

[anthman]

Related concept - I find more whiting (and fish in general) are caught on a decent length of leader (~50cm) attached to a running sinker rig when compared to a short leader that is short due to laziness (<20cm). For clarity , I'm referring to the leader that goes from swivel to hook.

[Guest Guest123456789]

Thanks for sharing Giffo. Must say I’ve struggled with drifting yabbies over flats. I’ll try the motor in gear method.

[Berleyguts]

On 10/6/2019 at 3:30 PM, Giffo said:

My local sand flat in Grays Point is known to hold lots of whiting but after numerous sessions pumping nippers and trying to get a feed of whiting,  instead having  very sore arms after each session. I have been trying to catch whiting on this very flat for 10 years. The day had finally come when I found out how to catch these whiting. When my son came home with 8 whiting between 30 and 35 cm.  I had to tag along the next session to see how he did it.  I was bemused when he said that he left the motor in gear  the whole time. He was trolling for whiting!!!. he says the moving nipper along the flats targets the bigger fish. before we knew it he had beaten his personal best whiting and pulled one in the net measuring 42 cm. along with 5 of his mates. none of which were undersize.  A prolific tactic used in deep sea fishing can be used to good effect in 1 metre of water.   

Interesting! I’d have thought that the motor running in shallow water would scare the crap out of the fish! I could understand moving over the flats with the oars or an electric motor...

[Rebel]

Thanks, you learn something new everyday.

[Yowie]

23 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Oaklands I think was the caravan park (I was only a kid) our boat was called "Topper" had a small top hat and cane painted on the bow. It used to be chained to the Casuarina tree next to the water. Motor was just sitting on a trolley inside the annex, which was only ever clipped up, never locked, never had anything stolen from the annex 

That island was called "Treasure Island" by us- squirt worms the treasure! Just on shore opposite the island was "The deep hole"- we were banned from going anywhere near it as kids

Oaklands it was. Not many fish in the deep hole.

[wazatherfisherman]

4 hours ago, Yowie said:

Oaklands it was. Not many fish in the deep hole.

Hi Yowie- no fish in the deep hole but I saw a bloke catch a big sea snake there that he took around the caravan park showing everyone. It was about 4 ft long and I still haven't seen a bigger one

[Giffo]

19 hours ago, Berleyguts said:

Interesting! I’d have thought that the motor running in shallow water would scare the crap out of the fish! I could understand moving over the flats with the oars or an electric motor...

 An electric motor or a strong drift will work as well. Our boat has a 3.5 HP and it is very quiet.

[Southend]

I walked the sand flats on the incoming tide slowly dragging a live nipper behind me and got multiple hookups of whiting so the slow movement of the nipper across the flats definitely worked for me 👍

[pauls]

I find squirt worms out fish nippers every time