Des 818 Posted August 29, 2013 Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 What a day of perfect weather Wednesday was.What better to do than spend the day wading on the sandflats in glorious sunshine. You could not get nicer conditions. Crystal clear water, barely a breath of wind, the water like glass and the warm winter sunshine on your back. So nice it would not matter if I did not catch a thing.Just as well! I could not find any Yellow Fin Whiting. I was surprised as I had seen plenty of feeding marks in the shallows near the mangroves where they were feeding at the top of the tide. No fish yet, but I was having a marvellous day in magnificent conditions. I moved over to another large sandy area and what do I run into but some Yellow Fin Whiting. In these conditions they are seen clearly. You stand perfectly still. Minimise as much movement as possible. You know if you can see fish right on the extremities of your vision, then rest assured, they have seen you long before you saw them! Quality polaroids are a must.First cast a nice 35cm fish came in with the usual tenacious tussle these little fish are capable of. The second fish was caught as I cast back over the school that chased the first one in. They are competitive, chasing the one with the bait and hook in its mouth! In beautiful conditions, Sight fishing Yellow Fin Whiting is such a delight. It goes something like this;You cast out beyond the school and retrieve your bait past them. Tempting them to take it. "Ooops!" I startled them the cast landed right in the middle of them. They scattered! No bite!"Aaaahhh!" perfect cast. You just allowed enough for that light breeze that can drift your light tackle across.It's a slow steady retrieve past the fish ... "Take it, take it, taaaaaake iiitt! " you scream and plead at the fish as you drag the bait past its nose!"Yes! Yes! Yes! Go ooonnnh! Take it a bit harder. Hit it harder now." you coax the fish.You strike. "Yes! gotch ya! Gotch Ya, Ya buggah! Trying to pinch my bait! and get away?"You reel it in. It pulls hard. Some drag comes off. It is feisty. You can see it has got some size to it. It is in close within reach then it darts through your legs. You raise your rod, directing it away from your boots and lift it up, some solid weight to it, as you try to grab it against the belly of your waders and then the lip hook pulls! Damn! I should have used the landing net. The cycle starts all over again, but you are still smiling. You are hooked on this, not the fish.It sounds like and is simple fun in glorious conditions. When the water is crystal clear, sun shining through the water, with perfect visibility, your gear needs adjusting to suit these conditions. I get rid of my heavier running sinker that is usually up the line above the swivel and replace it with a small 0 or 00 ball sinker that slides down against the long shank hook. I always only ever fish for YFW with the 1 hook. A size 4 Gamakatsu long shank at the end of a metre length of Flurocarbon. This now resembles a jig head for soft plastics. Except the weight is removable and adjustable. Very light but all the weight is concentrated near the hook which allows for a good cast with a flicky soft plastic rod. It creates very little splash, so it wont spook the fish. The clearer the water the easier they spook.Well it was a bit of a procession so I tried to mix things up a bit. I got the poppers out! Yup the previous week I went out did the round of stores and bought a collection of poppers. After seeing this video clip;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NWJCxIl1wSkI thought these must be the ants pants. They can out fish bait! The conditions were perfect, weed free. I tried these 4 poppers and managed a fish on each. Yes my first, second, third & fourth Yellow Fin Whiting ever on poppers.Frankly I was not impressed. It took on average, about 12 to 15+ casts per strike. Maybe my technique is no good? I checked to make sure, in case the fish had moved on. After every popper fish I changed back to my bait rig. In every case I had a fish within 3 casts of the bait, at the most! So a nice bit of video editing makes it look like non stop action instead of a tedious 4 hour session. Poppers have certainly caught a lot of fisherman me included.I don't see why you would use your thumbnail to put a screw in the wall, when you can use a screwdriver or a power drill! Just my take on it.However the Gulp soft plastic sandworms in the "bloody" red colour worked well, as always. It took the bigger fish. A 40cm, a 39 and a few 37-38cm were the better fish.The fish I kept are from 33cm to 40cm. I would have released another 20 odd fish in the 29-32 range. there were plenty of YFW about on a heavenly day!Cheers, Des Kayak Noob, piratepom, ShimsMan and 20 others 23 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kuerschie 2,309 Posted August 29, 2013 Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 Awesome conditions, awesome insight, awesome catch!! You sure have the YFW on a string Des. Still yet to catch me a legal one, although I have not really put in as much time as I wish or should. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
keenfisho 1,416 Posted August 29, 2013 Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 Last Wednesday you say...........f$&@I tried to sneak off work early last Wednesday to hit our northern flats but got caught up with customers all arvoCongrats again Des well done, will see you out there soon vxman29 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vxman29 11 Posted August 29, 2013 Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 Keenfisho i am keen to have a crack chasing the yfw. Dust of the fishing gear and waders Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rat 4 Posted August 29, 2013 Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 Great work there Des! Good read too! All this talk on Yellow Fin is getting me excited. Have never caught one on a lure but pretty keen to have a crack. Caught plenty on nippers and worms. Good all round fish to catch and eat. Keep up the good work mate! Cheers Rat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vxman29 11 Posted August 29, 2013 Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 Outstanding post Des, thanks for sharing whats been working well for you . Looking forward to landing a few yfw very shortly Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Squid Flaps 5 Posted August 29, 2013 Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 Great reading and very informative thread Des. Thanks.Just a question, what do the feeding marks look like and what to look for?Cheers,SF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
waspy 3 Posted August 29, 2013 Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 Fantastic effort des mate id be over the moon with a feed like that well done Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tinker 1,645 Posted August 29, 2013 Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 As always Des, brilliant report.You truly are the Whiting Whisperer.Are you still targeting the Northern sand flats or were this lot more metro? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Des 818 Posted August 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 Great reading and very informative thread Des. Thanks.Just a question' date=' what do the feeding marks look like and what to look for?Cheers,SF[/quote']I will have to take a photo next trip.You will see change in the colour of the sand as with any marine animal disturbing the sand. The surface sand is always a lighter colour. The sand below is always a shade of grey. The YFW poke their snouts in the sand looking for worms, nippers, cockles etc. They leave a round grey depression behind. Also the disturbed grey sand will lay over one way depending which way the tide was moving. Hence you can tell if they were there feeding on the incoming or outgoing tide. Beaches with a bit more wave action as along the metro, will not hold the marks for very long. And some with coarser sand wont hold marks. also the don't have the colour layers in the sand. Whereas mudflat areas which are always calm, hold the marks for days.@ Tnker: "Are you still targeting the Northern sand flats or were this lot more metro?"Yes they are still north. Metro wont see them till late October. All dependent on the weather/temps and the resultant water temps.Cheers, Des Savagelip, vxman29, Tinker and 1 other 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Damo67 6 Posted August 29, 2013 Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 Another great post DES. Thanks for sharing your experiences and knowledge. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
avidanglr1 97 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 yep agreed with damo..top job des ...i mean whisperin one;)...keepem comin...hi5.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crusher 18 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 uhh Des..... Thanks Mate... thanks for the smile at the thought of catching a solid YFW, then having it fall back in to the soup you lift from the water.Cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ashleycraig80 0 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 Another great post Des, very informative as always, think you can add me to the list of people caught with buying poppers, oh well, i'm sure the salmon trout will take them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rooboy123 9 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 Great write up Des. I also got excited about the idea of whiting on poppers, but haven't bought any lures yet. It's enough fun catching them on light gear in skinny water anyway! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rooboy123 9 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 Great write up Des. I also got excited about the idea of whiting on poppers, but haven't bought any lures yet. It's enough fun catching them on light gear in skinny water anyway! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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