popping for whiting

[danlarter]

hi everyone,

im just getting back into fishing after doing a fair bit as a kid. ive been getting a few flatties on soft plastics and noticed a heap of whiting around the local sand flats so off to the local tackle shop i went to by some poppers. spent an hour or so flicking them around but nothing at all and i could see a fair few whiting getting around. am i wasting my time with these things? should i just stick to live worms? any tips would be great. luckily i had some bait with me and managed to take home a 40 cm flatty and a nice blue swimmer so i didnt go hungry.

any addvice would be much appreciated.

thanks everyone!

[pigbody23t]

i find that the 65 sammy bloody ghost minnow works well on whiting actualy very well

im not sure if the whiting want to eat it or are tring to defend the "Space" and scare it off

but it hooks up well

[Ridesh]

hi everyone,

im just getting back into fishing after doing a fair bit as a kid. ive been getting a few flatties on soft plastics and noticed a heap of whiting around the local sand flats so off to the local tackle shop i went to by some poppers. spent an hour or so flicking them around but nothing at all and i could see a fair few whiting getting around. am i wasting my time with these things? should i just stick to live worms? any tips would be great. luckily i had some bait with me and managed to take home a 40 cm flatty and a nice blue swimmer so i didnt go hungry.

any addvice would be much appreciated.

thanks everyone!

how did you fish with your poppers? have you tried looking up youtube and get ideas there? Poppers do work. The more expensive poppers are easier to use while the cheap ones take more effort. Also what was the water temperature like?

[Jewhunter]

Use a sammy or a sugarpen with a walk the dog retrieve if it's really calm.

The best popper is a bushys stiffy popper in frv colour. Use this one when there is some wind & chop on the water. This is my fave lure & conditions for whiting on the flats.

Tie your leader directly to the lure without a loop knot. Your popper needs to track straight on the retrieve.

You will need light braid, 4-6lb, matched with 8-10lb mono leader. Mono floats & won't turn your popper into a submarine.

Cast over the flats with the wind behind you. In 3-5ft of water you need long casts as the fish can be spooky.

Your retrieve with a popper is a fairly fast, constant, steady bloop & wind. Don't stop your retrieve as the whiting will turn away from the lure when you do.

Fish almost no drag as it is easy to pull the hooks on them.

It's great fun popping for whiting & very visual watching them fight over the lure until one nails it.

When you get it right you will catch a stack of fish if they are there.

Cheers,

Grant.

[danlarter]

Thanks fellas,

I did some research before going so my technique wasn't too bad ( sometimes ). the water was about 21 degrees I was only casting into about a foot of water. Thanks for your tips its really good that you can come on here and get great advice from other more experienced fishermen. I'll be back down there during the week having another crack.

Thanks again guys!

Dan.

[Bass assassin]

G'day mate. I see your from Cronulla. If you need any in-depth advice as for spots,time,tides hit me up with a PM.

I actually went for my first Whiting pop for ages yesterday and got into a couple of really nice fish,their around if you fish the right places at the right times.

cheers mate,

Adam.

[deano2233]

Hey mate there is some great advice here I'd just like to reiterate the point on getting the poppers to track straight really improves it's action. I have found using 10-15 pounds fluro carbon is best but only have about 2 foot of it and sometimes the smaler the popper the better. Goodluck