whiting rigs

[steve devon]

Originally Posted by kiwimarty

As Mackerel is our easy summer fish that tends to go for anything, so is the whiting during winter. There is a spot where I fish where I never fail to find them during the colder months. One thing I have found by using multi hooked rigs, rather than singles, is that they scrap like hell, thus leaving the rig all tangled when you have more than one on.
I must admit though, at the place where I fish for them, they are hitting the bait before the sinker reaches bottom.
As with Mac's, bait for them is cheap....non-stop bites using squid strip.

sounds like where i fish for them!

[upnorth1]

Ahhh !! The beloved whiting !! My most favoured match fish !!

I've lost count how many matches i've won with the lovely 'silver killer' !!

Seriously though guys, the guide to good whiting fishing, is the bait. Keep them small, one lug with a thumbnail of mackerel, these fish hit your bait quite hard, with a small bait, it's more or less hooked at the first hit.

I normally use clipped rigs in daylight for them ( and ALWAYS use kamasan MATCH hooks, usually size 4 - 2, or even a massive size 1 !), but in matches I tend to use a rig called a ' Whacker', 2 - 3 hooks with very short snoods, and when i say short, I mean about 4" snoods! No clips, and casts very well, hence 'Whacker'. Absolutely works brilliant in a decent tide run.

And last but not least, don't be too eager to pick the rod up at the first rattle. To be successful at catching whiting, fish by the clock, 10 - 15 mins means more full hooks every cast. ALWAYS change the bait EVERY cast, don't get into the habit of pushing washed out bait up the hook! Putting a fresh bait in front of you EVERY cast, keeps the fish in front of you, and not the next guy..

LONG LIVE THE WHITING !!

[Old Smoothound]

Nice post Paul ... and great info...we'd better get "whacking" then

[delboy]

i stick to 1 3/0 hook clip down 7 lugworms and bang it out as far as i can and hope i cast over the top of them into the cod zone i hate the bait robbing bar stewards you are welcome to them

[upnorth1]

mmm....obviously not a match angler, then Delboy ??????????

I love nothing better than going for cod. If I could target cod every trip, believe me I would, but this day and age it just aint possible. We need the right weather conditions, tides etc. We should be thankfull that there are still FISH in the sea, regardless what species it is.

There aint no cod left (obviuosly I know there is!) to eat the whiting, the cods most natural food source is now reaching plague proportions.

A skipper of a trawler was heading back to port at Berwick-upon-Tweed and on his fish finder was startled by what he saw, other skippers arrived to investigate, and what they saw can only be described as amazing...a shoal of whiting estimated, 13 MILES ACROSS, and 7 MILES LONG !!!!!! wow, that is some shoal of whiting...

Anyway, I stand by my first saying, LONG LIVE THE WHITING, matches would never be the same without them..

[Old Smoothound]

Hear Hear Paul,

When there's no other fish around you are very grateful for a Whiting, as you have said saved many a blank....

[kiwimarty]

I love catching whiting. OK i would be mad if I was targeting cod and all I was getting was whiting but to be honest I prefer to fish for the table and a nice fillet of whiting tastes every bit as good as a piece of cod.

Kiwi

[pingu]

tasted fine last night with a wild mushroom sauce mate,

[delboy]

paul

think i will give up trying to cast over them now if the shoal is 13 miles wide still trying to work out how to get 13miles of mono on my 7hts ha
know what you mean about saving your day in a match but i cant catch them in a match when i go for them only when i pleasure fish for cod thats when i get them have to relook at my tactics there must be doing some thing wrong i think

[Norfolkboy]

Originally Posted by kiwimarty

I love catching whiting. OK i would be mad if I was targeting cod and all I was getting was whiting but to be honest I prefer to fish for the table and a nice fillet of whiting tastes every bit as good as a piece of cod.

Kiwi

Totally agree