but ive seen people keeping them that6 size all the time

they taste bloody lovely tho :)

Take a girl fishing and she'll want to try it. Teach a girl to fish and you'll get out fished forever!! 

I'd say whatever size you can be bothered scaling and filleting them (of course you can cook them whole, but i hate the small bones). About the 18cm size would be minimum, but acceptable for me (thanks Andy for showing me the technique  ). Seem to only get <15cm ones off the beach though

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Always interested in someone to go fishing with

within reason, some people just cut the head off and gut then cook in pan ,some fillet . either way realy its up to the individual as to what they want in a feed , ours are normally 23cm plus

RUSS & SANDY

"A family that fishes together stays together"

I dont ever target them or eat them, and if i get one and its not a baby its a livie! 

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You couln't wipe that grin fom my face even with a hammer.

If you cant fillet them....they go back.

KG's at 30cm are too small, so they go back.... i cant remember the last time i kept one under 40cm let alone 30cm

yellow fin, 25-30cm are good sizes to keep.

I found the small ones work well for Tailor baits, but as to eating them 18cm and over would be the accpetable size for me too, your right 4-5 would make for a semi decent feed for one adult, as too a family, you would need heaps so the bigger the better, but most of us throw them back if there small, there's no real point to try and fillet them.

TT ( karl )

When I was younger, we used to catch several around the size you mentioned. We used to head them, gut them and then take them home. We used to fry them until the skin was crispy, and most of the small bones (because they were small fish) went crunchy as well, so they were edible.

The larger whiting have larger bones that do not crisp up, hence we were happy to get several smaller ones. A little bit of lemon, salt and pepper; they were delicious, mashaa'Allaah. Great with salad and was my favourite fish as they were so easy to catch, very very easy to clean and easy to cook. Hardly any preparation.

I did hear that people used a rolling pin on whiting to crush the bones so they would crisp up.

Makes me want to go catch some whiting, actually.

David.

And you will soon realize what the correct size is. It comes with some experience because scalling and filleting the little ones is a waste of time as all you get is a tiny piece only good for bait. We call the little ones chippies as they are the size of a (fish and) chip. Better to return them as they are ravenous and will get bigger soon!

Bu the way anyone know if the whiting up in the Pilbarra are sand, school whiting or what because up here there are some semi-kidney slappers.

Neels

Flat seas!!!

Thanks for the replies all.  Might keep a few this weekend (assuming i catchem of course).  Normally I steam fish whole with some soy sause and spring onion and if done right get the meat off easily with no bone.  So might be ok for the smaller whiting. 

I have been getting sand whiting down around east freo around 15 - 20cm.  good feed.  just cut the head off clean the crap, cover in flour salt and peper,  in the pan with a little bit of olive oil and bam,  you have yourself a beautiful little feed.

good eating fish if you ask me

I need my fix.  Hand me my line, I'm going fishing

for kgs 50 plus is a good size nice fillets

With the 15 to 20cm size,as mentioned fry whole after gutting/scaling.When cooked the fillet will easily remove from the bone.Then have the fillet skin side down,the flesh is easily removed from the skin.

ENJOY!!!!

Andrew

sand 16cm and plus good size

 so lately i have been targeting the sand whiting as they’re great fun to catch with the kids - especially when they’re on the chew.  The question i have is how to target the larger 30cm whiting; last weekend we got a whole heap in the smaller range which as above mentioned (I know it s a while ago now but the statement holds) are an effort to fillet to guarantee no bones for the kids. I will say that fresh whiting tastes superb.  And also when they’re on the action for the kids is excellent and they love catching them.
so - to target the larger versions I was thinking of running larger hooks... - what are the collective thoughts on this?
several times i have gone out with a mate fishing for whiting and i have used circle hooks and he used the standard whiting rigs and he was easily out catching me; and i was using the black magic size 1/0 KG circle hooks - go figure....
maybe for the hitting i need to adjust my paternoster rig to a running sinker rig?

Cheers,
Dave

School whiting are dhuie and snapper bait no matter the size

 I take a jar with spicey malt vinegar, chilli, garlic & onion. Take the fillets off a whiting, dont worry about removing the pin or rib bones the vinegar softens them. Drop fillets in jar for 20 to 30 minutes, remove and eat. Enjoy with a beer of course. Small ones are kept for tailor bait.

David

 The smaller the better. Eat them whole