Fussy feeders worth effort

Whiting are a popular recreational catch in Tasmania, plus that are an excellent table fish and certainly rate highly in my household.

Easy to catch and clean, the whiting fishery is finally starting to be recognised as one that equals the bream and trout fisheries.

Many now target no others, as they are an excellent fighting fish, especially on the right gear, such as a 2kg rod and 6lb line.

Stealth is required to catch whiting, for most captures in Great Oyster Bay, Georges Bay, in St Helens and the Tamar, plus Port Sorell, just to name a couple of places, occur in shallow water.

Sand or school whiting are caught around the state and Southern school whiting have a long body with slightly tapered head. The tail is markedly forked and the colour is yellowish brown with a number of orange-brown spots on the body. A silvery stripe can be seen along the flanks plus caudal, pectoral and dorsal fins are brown, and the anal and ventral fins are yellow or white.

School whiting mature around 15cm or two years old. They grow to 33cm in length and 0.5kg in weight and live for about seven years.

Whiting spawning occurs from late spring to late summer in Tasmania and it is likely that females spawn more than once during this time. Juveniles are generally found inshore and move into deeper water as they grow. This fish is commonly caught by anglers over sandy areas or off beaches where the fish can form large schools.

Juveniles are regularly caught in beach seines at night in association with small mullet. Whiting are most commonly caught on a hook and line when using small hooks baited with small pieces of fish, prawn or squid. Sand worms are also considered good bait.

One of the most soughtafter table fish would be King George whiting. As I mentioned, this species is now starting to be caught in large numbers around the state.

KGs, as they are fondly nicknamed, make their home on broken ground; rocky reef interspersed with seagrass and sand, feeding with their long sucking snouts on resident creatures like tube worms and small crustaceans which live in among the kelp, sea grass and sponges.

I know that KGs also predominantly feed on squid eggs on grass beds in shallow water and will take squid pieces when nothing else will induce bites.

Generally, King George whiting are on average around the 40cm mark in Tasmanian waters, but I have seen some around the 70cm mark, which makes them a large fish. The lighter the tackle and line class the better for hunting shallow water. KGs as they are highly sensitive to heavy terminal tackle, poorly presented baits and noisy anglers clanging around. Light flick sticks, like your bream rod (2-4kg), are perfect out of a boat, as are small bait-casting outfits.

Whiting can be extremely skittish on occasions and the softly, softly approach is sometimes needed. Heavy line, noisy boats and general hubbub do not go hand-in-hand with whiting fishing.

Whiting are fussy feeders, moving around quickly, sucking in, then spitting out interesting morsels. All you feel is the quick sudden tug of the line as the fish samples your bait, but just as quickly spits it out again if it looks or tastes a bit off. You’ll benefit from slightly feeding the line back a bit after the first tug, so the fish can have another bite of your bait. Nicely presented baits of blood or sand worms, fresh squid (caught in the same weedy areas), and blue bait pieces threaded onto a long shank hook are all great fare to catch a KG.

For inshore KG fishing, a paternoster rig with double droppers each sporting 2-3cm of thin red plastic tube slipped onto the dropper, before looping on the hooks work OK.

Make sure you use lots of berley to bring the fish to your location. Bread, bran, chook pellets will do the job; add pieces of mulies or even old prawn shells, anything to add the attractant to your bait.