ESTUARY SPORTFISHING
Top Water Whiting!
Surface lures unleash the true sportfishing appeal of one of our most common estuary species. JIM HARNWELL reports. (Extended version of feature article printed in Fishing World January 2012 edition).
THE whiting on lures phenomenon of the past few years has completely changed the way we as anglers view these prolific estuary sportfish. For their size, whiting have always been highly regarded as tough little fighters and there’s also no doubt that they are one of the more popular table species around. But up until the past few years not many fishos would have classed them in the “aggressive predator” category. However, when you see a 40+cm whiting smash a carefully worked popper or stickbait, you begin to assess these fish much differently. As a southern estuary lure target, the truth of the matter is that they’re bloody fantastic!
Much of the initial development of this fishery has to be credited to a couple of NSW South Coast fishing guides, most notably Captain Kev Gleed, who runs Wilderness Fishing Adventures. I got my first taste of whiting on lures a few years back when I fished a South Coast system with Captain Kev and long-time Fisho writer Pat Brennan. At that stage the whole whiting on surface lures fishery was totally new and I admit that I found the whole concept to be fairly unbelievable. I could understand getting the odd whiting on a lure as by-catch when chasing bream or flatties but specifically targeting them on surface lures? No way!
My mindset on whiting as a viable lure target radically changed after that day out with Captain Kev and Pat. We all caught numerous sizable whiting on surface poppers, as well as more than a few bream and flatties, plus a giant longtom. I was blown away by it all. It was outstanding fun and a real challenge.
Since then practically all my fishing for whiting in my local estuaries along the NSW South Coast has been focused on chasing them with surface lures, initially poppers but now a mix of poppers and stickbaits. My initial introduction to this amazing sportfishery came courtesy of Captain Kev but in recent years has been further augmented by on-water time spent with other estuary experts such as Stuie Hindson of Aussie Fish Estuary Adventures as well as Fisho’s own Kaj “Bushy” Busch and Pat Brennan. A host of technical info from local tackle industry innovators such as Shimano’s Brett Wilson and Frogley Offshore’s Michael Starkey has also helped my understanding of how this fishery works.
Advice from these guys and others, plus my own observations, has helped refine what I so far know about targeting whiting on surface lures. It’s been a fascinating learning curve and I must admit to being somewhat obsessed with it. I’ll happily spend a warm summer’s day throwing poppers and surface walkers around the flats specifically targeting whiting. I really enjoy catching the fish – on light tackle and in shallow water they’re unbeatable – and a side benefit is that I’m more than partial to a fresh whiting fillet fried in olive oil and served with pepper and a squeeze of lemon. So let’s run through the basics of this fishery so you too can enjoy the unique thrills that only a surface feeding whiting can inspire.
When
As far as I can work out, targeting whiting on surface lures corresponds with the annual run of prawns in east coast estuaries. Like most estuary species (and most humans for that matter), whiting love to scoff prawns. It’s probably safe to say that they become fixated on these tasty crustaceans when they begin to migrate in and out of the estuaries at the start of the warmer months.
Most anglers will be familiar with the sight of prawns “flicking” across the surface around weed beds and shallow sandy flats. This characteristic topwater activity signals a prawn fleeing a predator and it no doubt plays a major role as to why whiting respond so aggressively to correctly manipulated surface lures. Watching the way prawns move gives you a really good understanding of what’s needed as far as the retrieve is concerned and more than likely has strongly influenced the development of this particular fishery. Prawns tend to run during summer, which makes it no surprise to realise that this period is the prime time to target whiting with surface presentations. As far as I can work out, they just don’t seem interested in poppers or stickbaits if there are no prawns around. This, to my way of thinking, indicates that this fishery is influenced very heavily by seasonal changes and the abundance of a particular bait source. In fact, I’d go as far to say that no prawns means no whiting – at least no whiting on the top.
If you closely examine a whiting, you’ll see that it is clearly designed to feed off the bottom. The downward facing snout maximises its ability to snuffle around in the sand for worms, nippers and other bait items. While scouring the bottom strata is no doubt a whiting’s primary means of gathering food, it’s not hard to visualise a fish spooking prawns out of the sand and then opportunistically following them up to the surface as they try to escape. Or, if there’s an abundance of prawns around, you couldn’t blame a whiting for honing in on any surface disturbance in the hope that it’s a prawn. I reckon whiting (and other species like bream and flatties) focus almost exclusively on prawns when they’re running, which is why using a lure that closely resembles the size, shape and movement of a prawn frantically skittering across the water is so effective.
The “skittering” action of a prawn on the run from a hungry fish is pretty interesting and well worth observing. Prawns scoot along at a great rate of knots, throwing up little flicks of water and changing direction erratically. A fish trying to chase down a fleeing prawn has no option but to try to aggressively run it down. This goes a long towards explaining why whiting respond in the way they do to surface presentations, even though they are seemingly not designed to be an aggressive surface predator. You have to see it to believe just how aggressive whiting can get when they’re fixated on prawns.
Pic: Shane Chalker
Last summer I was fishing Lake Conjola with my mate Rob Atkinson. We were drifting over a shallow flat, working poppers and stickbaits. Rob hadn’t done much surface fishing for whiting and I’d keyed him up with tales of how exciting the fish are when they’re running down a topwater lure. We’d seen a few fish and had a few swirls around our lures but it was otherwise pretty quiet. Rob had a small piece of weed tangle around his stickbait just after he made a cast and so cranked it back in at speed in order to clean it off. As he retrieved the lure a solid whiting absolutely smashed it and he was on. This was a genuine 40+cm thumper and the savagery of the strike took Rob completely by surprise. I was intrigued by what I’d seen as well. The fish hit a lure being wound back in a full noise. It was a tailor retrieve, not a whiting retrieve. Rob got his fish in and was stoked with such a cracker specimen to open his whiting on surface lure account. The rest of the session was spent madly retrieving our lures literally as fast as we could and getting smashed by whiting of all sizes from barely legal to high 30s.
The whiting that day were as aggressive as I’ve ever seen them and it just goes to show how they’ll respond if they think the “prawn” they’re chasing is going to escape. We were fishing really shallow water – less than half a metre – which maybe had an influence on the bite.
So the lesson here is that a speedier retrieve is usually better for whiting. You want to mimic a scared prawn and the fact is that scared prawns don’t dawdle – they scoot! And they don’t stop either. If they stop they get eaten. Whiting don’t expect the prawn they’re chasing to just suddenly slow down, which is why if you pause during your retrieve the whiting usually peel away. Don’t stop, keep winding and the whiting will usually take a whack at the lure. The other point here is that prawns send up little sprays of water as they flick along the surface. To effectively represent this I find that “shaking” the rod throughout the retrieve nicely recreates the sprays and droplets sent out by a panicked prawn.
I’ve noticed that whiting seem to “suck” the lure down, as opposed to engulfing it like a bream or bass. You’ll often see fish tailing your lure and then all of a sudden there’s a swirl and you’re hooked up. Sometimes they will crash a lure but usually it’s a relatively subtle take. I think this is because the design of a whiting’s mouth means it has to attack from below, as opposed to behind or to the side as often happens with bream. I’m not 100 per cent sure about this – but it sounds like a pretty good theory. Regardless, it seems apparent to me that in order to get the best possible hook up rate you need small and very sharp trebles on your lures. Most of the quality stickbaits and poppers now available come fitted with good hooks but some of the cheaper models can benefit from an upgrade to fine chemically sharpened trebles. I like the Owner ST-11 UL and Gamakatsu TWG Wide Gap models and always keep a couple of packs in my tackle box in case I need to replace or upgrade the trebles on my whiting lures.
Like most species that hunt in clear and shallow water, whiting are inherently fairly spooky. I’ve noticed that they shy away from the boat during a retrieve and rarely venture more than 10m in, even if they’re focused on the lure. This necessitates long casts so you can work as much water as possible without scaring the fish. Long (2.3m) rods in the 1-3kg class are ideal for whiting. I use a 1-3kg Pflueger Supreme PFLS-SP701UL and also a 1-2kg G.Loomis IMX SR841 for most of my whiting work. Both rods are 7′ (2.10m) long. The Supreme is matched to a 1000 sized Pflueger Arbor reel spooled with 4lb FireLine Exceed. I really like the Arbors – they’re an innovative reel with the extra wide spool vastly reducing the occurrence of the dreaded “wind knots” and also provide excellent retrieve speed for what is essentially a very small reel.
The drag performance on these affordable little reels is top notch as well. I’m currently testing one of the new models with increased corrosion resistance and will publish a write up in an upcoming edition. The two-piece Loomis is my ultra light outfit and is fitted with a Shimano Rarium 1000 spooled with 3lb Power Pro. This is a very balanced and light outfit. The Loomis is a very sensitive stick and ideal for the “shaking” retrieve I prefer when surface fishing for whiting and the reel, with its CI4 construction literally weighs bugger all. You can cast all day with this outfit.
It’s no secret that the lightest possible braid will maximise casting distance. I’m totally convinced that extra long casts result in more whiting, especially in hard fished locations. I’m currently trialling some ofBerkely’s new 2lb NanoFil line, which is literally as thin as hair. It should enable ultra long casts – if I can see it to tie knots in it! Stand by for details on how this brand new hi-tech line performs.
Although I reckon ultra light braid is vital when poppering for whiting, the leader system I like to use is seemingly more suited to much bigger fish. I use a short (50cm) length of 12-15lb mono tied to the lure with either a Locked Blood Knot or a Uni Knot. Fisho columnist and well-known lure designer/angler Kaj Busch put me onto this system and it’s since been adopted by most whiting specialists. The short, heavy leader and hard knot connection allows the lure to track straight, which in turns means the fish finds it easier to attack it. If you use a long light leader connected to the lure with a loop knot, the lure can move around and make it hard for the whiting to effectively line it up.
You need to use mono leader, not fluorocarbon, because the fluoro sinks, which can affect the performance of your lure.
It has to be said that this relatively heavy leader can be a bit of a challenge to connect to the light braid I use (I generally use a three turn Double Uni Knot in the mono and a 12 turn Double Uni in the braid), and it sort of goes against all the rules for light tackle estuary luring, but Bushy’s logic in coming up with this system makes complete sense and I haven’t noticed any drop off in catch rates since using it. As Bushy explained, since it’s so short the leader is mostly out of the water during the retrieve and as the fish is generally attacking from below the chances of it being spooked by the leader are fairly miniscule. Anyway, that heavy leader is good insurance in case a croc-sized flattie decides to inhale your whiting popper – and believe me that can and does happen!
Where
Most of the whiting I’ve caught come from water ranging in depth from half a metre to about 2m. I’ve caught fish from open sandflats but have generally had more success on flats which are interspersed or dotted with weed beds. I like a bit of chop on the water – this seems to make the fish feel less inhibited – and I haven’t noticed any difference between low light or bright conditions. A bit of tide moving over the flats helps and I reckon flats that have plenty of life – weed beds, nipper holes, visible schools of bait, for instance – produce better than those without. Fishing the leading edge of a flat – ie, from deeper water up to the shallows seems to be most productive, at least in my experience.
Lures
Over the ensuing pages we’ve provided details on a representative selection of the some of more effective whiting poppers and stickbaits ranging from affordable models right up to the latest and greatest creations from Japan. This special buyer’s guide should give you a really good indication of what’s available these days and the good thing is that most if not all of these lures are equally effective on other popular species such as bream, bass, EPs and flathead.
Personally speaking, I admit to having a real fondness for Bushy’s Stiffy popper for my whiting work. I like the Green Bottle colour. The Stiffy casts a mile and can be “flicked” along really easily. It also comes standard with top quality Owner terminals. In more recent times I’ve been experimenting with stickbaits and have had outstanding success with a yellow coloured 52mm NW Pencil from Lucky Craft. This is a deadly little lure that caught me plenty of fish last season and I’m fanging to get it front of a few big whiting this summer.
Most of my fishing to date has been with lures around the 50mm mark but conversations with estuary sportfishing specialists like Michael Starkey reveals that stickbaits in the 70+mm size are dynamite on big whiting. Prawns can easily get to that size, especially in northern NSW and SE Queensland, and it makes sense that an XOS whiting would want to maximise its energy gains by tracking down the biggest possible meal.
Sounds crazy to be talking about whiting in this way, right? But the fact is only a few years back none of us would have believed that a whiting would actually eat a surface lure, big or small, at all. Who knows what will happen next …
Expert Tips
Don’t Stop Winding! By Brett Wilson
Use a short 14lb+ leader, no more than two feet long. Tie the leader directly to the popper; this will help make the lure track straight in the water. Retrieve your lure with consistent bloops. Don’t stop retrieving, whatever you do! Make sure you keep working the lure throughout the retrieve, even when you see whiting approach the popper.
Brett Wilson is a product manager for Shimano Australia and is well known as an estuary sportfishing specialist.
Go deep when it’s hot By Stuie Hindson
When the shallows are extremely warm (30 degrees or more) the best option is to fish the slightly deeper water (say, three to seven feet) adjacent to the shallow stuff for better results, particularly from bigger fish. Despite whiting liking warmer water it can actually get too hot for them. Another tip is to use a monofilament line opposed to a fluorocarbon line for your leader. Fluorocarbon sinks, putting extra weight on the nose of the surface lure when retrieved. And don’t be afraid to use big surface walkbait lures to up to 75mm, especially in very windy conditions. The extra splash and noise on the surface in disturbed water acts like a beacon to hungry whiting.
Stuie Hindson owns and operates Aussie Fish Estuary adventures (www.ausfishing.com.au). He is well regarded as a leading southern estuary guide.
Add flash By Steve “Gilly” Gill
Retro-fitting a small amount of white crystal flash or feather on the rear treble can result in whiting responding more aggressively to the lure. Also it’s not a bad idea to “wind” the fish on, rather than striking immediately when you feel a take. By striking too quickly you’ll often pull the hook out of the fish’s mouth. If you feel or see the fish take the lure just keep winding and you’ll more than likely achieve a solid hook-up.
Gilly is a well-known tournament angler based on the NSW South Coast.
