Looking for general advice for king george whiting
Submitted by beeroclock on Mon, 2014-11-10 11:31
Gday ive never targeted KG's before but with this demersal ban on im getting a bit itchy to catch some fish. Have had a quick look on the search engine here and pretty much know what rig and baits to use. Was gonna fish the west side of the 3-mile out from city beach where sand meets reef but just wondering if anybody would be willing to point me to any broad areas out from Mindarie or ocean reef marina's what sort of depths should i be looking for - mindarie is my closest marina also two rocks marina (if it is open yet) cheers
Coyote_Dave
Posts: 77
Date Joined: 04/03/13
This has worked for me in the
This has worked for me in the past:
- Look for an area that has patchy weed/sand or weed/sand and reef - for schools i find shallower water in the 5-10 m range is productive. I have caught larger models in water up to 60 m deep but these were single fish.
- Anchor up and burley with a combo of pollard and fish oil - It can take up to 30 mins for fish to show up.
- I use the sure catch pre made whiting paternoster rigs cause I'm lazy, hooks are usually about size 4 long shank and i use the smallest bar sinkers i can get away with.
- bait is squid cut into thin strips to look like worms.
You tend to attrach a lot of pickers right in close to the burley trail so I like to cast to the periphery.
Anyway - have a crack, I'm sure you can improve on what I've found.
Paul H
Posts: 2104
Date Joined: 18/01/07
+1 for the above advice but
+1 for the above advice but don't discount the shallow stuff either. In SA we regularly catch them in 1-2 metres particularly towards the top of the tide (unless heaps of boat traffic etc). If shallow - stealth and some sort of cover are vital .ie. weed, reef or even oyster leases etc..
If fishing alone use more than one rod with the one in the holder having circle hooks to pick up a few extras for the bag (squid good as bait for this one due to toughness to withstand pickers) - also believes the extra bait/feeding/action going on helps attract more to your area.
Make sure your bottom hook on your rig is as low as the sinker - the bottom hook will generally account for more whiting than the top.
'Keep moving until you find them - if nothing in first half an hour I'll generally move unless coming up to a tide change (then I'll stay as this they can suddenly come on with a change of tide) . I prefer a bit of movement in the water - if fishing with a strong current I'll use a couple of squid heads (cut off tentacles for bait) on a line and sinker as burley rather than anything that will go away with the current (better still put this under the boat on a hook for a gummy or snapper etc) again the pickers picking away at this helps attract them.
Don't discount pilchard halves/pieces as bait, they love them and you'd be surprised how big a bait they will go at. My biggest KG off a beach was on a pilly and two ganged 6/0s (fishing for salmon) on sand next to reef in around 2-3 metres of water
Good luck
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