Sand Whiting are one of the most popular and tastiest estuary fish found along the coast from Bermagui to Eden.

Many of the local estuaries hold good numbers of quality whiting, the Sand Whiting found in the estuary system is exactly the same as those found along the beaches.

Sometimes congregating in large numbers they tend to be found in a variety of places such as large sandy areas, tidal flats, along the sandy edges of weed beds, shallow channels, gutters and deep holes.

Sand Whiting prefer the saltier parts of the system and are rarely found higher up in the estuaries where Bream and Dusky Flathead are often found.

They prefer fresh moving and wriggling baits and will take soft plastics and vibrating lures and poppers.

In Merimbula, there are 2 main areas where whiting can be caught.

From November till April Whiting are prevalent in our estuaries.

In the months of February through to May, the Surf Beaches can also be productive.

Fishing for Whiting in the Estuaries around Merimbula, whether you have a boat or you fish from the bank the principles are much the same.

Whiting are cautious feeders and if they can see you they will be much harder to entice to take bait.

You need to be able to cast well away from where you are standing or anchored.

A medium taper rod to 1.8 meters and a reel with 6 lb line is the best gear and the best rig is a running sinker using a number 2 ball sinker, the smallest black swivel and no 4 long shank hook.

The leader from the sinker to the hook needs to be approximately 50cm away.

The are a number of baits to use for Whiting including Sandworms, Nippers and Beachworms but by far Sandworms are the only bait to use when chasing Whiting in our local estuaries.

Small Nippers will tempt them at times as will Beachworms fished into the night, but you do tend to catch a lot more Sand Rays.

Thread the worms onto the hook and push it up the hook until it looks full.  Cast out along side any weed or drop offs making sure you allow for the tide, as this will drag your line around.

Your line should move slowly across the bottom.At times you may need to increase the size of your sinker to stop the bait moving to fast.

Whiting will sometimes bite and inhale your bait, and other times will pick at it, but if you wait long enough they will eventually hook them selves and hopefully not to deep so the smaller fish can be released.

If fishing off the bank, cast your line out as far as possible and allow the tide to carry your bait around, once it ends up near the bank just wait a bit before retrieving it and casting again.

As whiting often move up the close edge as you often see them when you are walking to the fishing spot.

If your line is well away from where you’re standing you often catch them.

The best tides in the estuaries is the last 2 hours of the falling tide and then the first 2 hours of the rising tide, once the tide has increased the fish move up into the shallows or oyster lease areas.

When fishing of the surf beach for whiting beach worms are the best bait, but nippers and pipis work well at times. Rods and reels are much the same, but the rod can be a bit longer to 3meters.

The rig is also much the same except I fish an extra hook but a single hook works well as used in the lake.

And the sinker may have to be increased in size depending on swell and current. I  also like to include a red bead or red tubing on one hook, but the salmon tend to find that, as do the whiting.

Where to fish: best areas is on the edge of the deeper gutters or holes, the whiting tend to hang in the shallow water but stay close enough to the deeper water in case emergency.

I like to fish at low tide and rising water this way the whiting are waiting to move up on to the sand banks to feed as the tide builds.

So the idea is to cast on to the sand banks and allow the waves to wash you line in to the holes and that’s when you will catch your fish.

If the beach is long and flat the whiting will sit under the shore break or where your standing, as your stirring the sand for them to feed.

Fishing around the holes and gutters you may catch some other species such as bream, mullet, salmon, black fish and flat head so be prepared.

So once you finally catch a fish that is legal (27cm) I like to put it out of its misery and into a cool place.

And for cooking, scaled fillets into Tandaco fish coating mix (available at Woolworths) and into a fry pan with generous coating of butter and cook until golden brown on both sides then eat.

ENJOY.