Advice For Beginner

[brendanpategan]

Hello Gentlemen.

My wonderful girlfriend recently purchased a gift certificate for nonsaid local fishing shop due to me expressing a desire to catch some of those amazing whiting that nip at my toes in the waters off bondi beach during summer.

Fortunately these waters are only a 15 minute walk away and from looking through your forums it appears there is some very good fishing to be had around the Waverly area.

Unfortunately, my fishing knowledge comprises of the few times as a kid and teen going out with the old man and never catching a single thing with the exception of a sting ray in ballina when i was five, oh and a plate size snapper once of the shelf outside of sydney harbour (though i was so nauseous from sea sickness i swore i would never go off shore again!)

So too the question!

Could you possibly give some advice to a basic setup to go beach fishing off bondi?

I imagine a large rod is required and from research small hooks and light line for whiting???

Any help, advise or assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks!

e.

[rjc123]

Hey mate,

I'm certainly no beach fishing expert but basically you need a rod of about 3-4 meters in length, A reel that can hold a decent amount of line and some star sinkers or bean sinkers that are heavy enough to keep you on the bottom. Beach worms are the go for whiting but otherwise things like pilchards and pippis will work well on other species. Also usually long shank hooks for the whiting. Your line should be quite light as you mentioned. Maybe 6 pound line.

Good luck

Tom

Edited October 27, 2010 by mack attack 79

[wannabefisho]

Mate you'll need a minimum 10 foot light surf rod and a 4000 series reel to get you started- I reckon 8-12lb braid would be sufficient and use a good flourocarbon leader of around 6-10lb with a single long shank hook in size 6, 8 or 10. (you can buy pre-packed Whiting packs made by Gillies and they are pretty good value for what you get... hooks, sinkers, beads and swivels all in a handy little tackle box- I use the flathead ones for bait fishing around Lane Cove River and they are very good quality... just dont leave them open on the sand unless you want the hooks to rust quickly, lol)

The BEST baits (as mentioned) are live beach and blood worms or pipies... Squid is also a good bait for Whiting in small 1cm wide strips around 5cm long.

Use a rig so you have the sinker above the swivel attached to the mainline, and the leader length should be 1m MINIMUM but I like 1.5m, other good baits are live yabbies (pink nippers) and mussels... There are a few places that sell live Blood and Beach Worms but they are not cheap- you will get about 3 worms for around $10- and if the Whiting are "on the chew" they wont last long... bycatch will be Bream, Salmon, Trevally, Flatties and the odd taylor...

If the swell is up or the current is running hard then you might need to up the sinker to a heavier one.

I hope this helps in some small way.

Tight lines

Anthony

[brettmann86]

Hey there egan,

easiest way for any of us to tell you is show you, there's alot of avid beach fisho's i'm here im myself one of the tragics, before you gte 30 replies with techincal names and different reel sizes and so onjust take a walk down your local stretch of sand and walk up to the first bloke fishing you see and too many to count will be more than happy to give you any advice you need.... but in short for whiting i'll give you this

a light whippy 12 foot rod rated around 6-10 kilo,

a 4000+ size reel some decent mono line (braid is too light for strong surf imo)

decent size sinkers, different days will depend on the size cause of swell etc etc etc

small baitholder or long shank hooks,

and some worms or pipis

you'll be eating all those lovely tasting whiting in no time mate...

PM me if your interested in coming out one day

[brendanpategan]

hey everyone,

thanks heaps for the advice. i'll be heading up to the shop with the replies printed. Will give you a shout brettmann once i've got my gear and have got it wet a couple of times.

thanks again gents.

b.

[customcasting]

If you are only chasing whitting and bream from the beach you dont need a big rod ,6 to 7 foot with 4 to 6lbs line (mono ) no 4 hook long or short shank ,i use short ,two foot leader to a small swizzle and a sinker about the size if a pea ,you will need about 4 size sinkers from small to marblle size .make sure the rod has a nice soft tip ,the old silstar crystal tips work well .learn to catch beach woarms or buy them ,use only live worms ,you dont need to cast far to catch whiting as they are feeding in the shore dump of the wave where all the sand is moving and exposing worms and pippies . fish sun rise and the last of the day light ,10 % of the fisherman catch 90 % of the fish ,if you use this method you will be in the 10 %. trevel light ,bait bucket sholder bag and do some leg work you will find them .