whiting on poppers

[BLOOEY]

scored a day off today and went down the coast for a surf fish originally. Couldn't help myself a nd had to throw a popper around in the esuary first. Caught heaps of wrigglers about 6in long and tiny trevs but mixed in were some better quality ones. All up scored 9 whiting to 39cm and a breambo. Ben

[marty+jojo]

Nice work Ben.... You have it sussed out.
Marty.

[rc@hinze]

Good bag of fish Ben. Was that in the broadwater on the incoming tide?
-cheers Richard

[BLOOEY]

Richard , No mate . I fish further south and the last of the outgoing to dead low tide. Ben

[84mick]

Nice catch there Ben, what kind of popper is that? Went to BCF yesterday in search of the clear r2s popper but they didn't have any.

Mick.

[BLOOEY]

Mick, It's a river to sea bubble pop 45. Just scratch the coloured paint off but leave the red mouth. And change the hooks to sticky sharp ones. Ben

[__JC__]

Nice work Ben, I absolutely love a feed of whiting but have had next to no luck on the Sunshine Coast over the past few weeks. Have tried a few times land based with the same popper (r2s with the paint scratched off) and the best I've managed is one measly dart. Tried over yabbie banks, in stirred up water, clear water, incoming tide, out going tide. :'(

Maybe I have to be a bit more persistant (bloody hard when i'm an impatient fisherman) :P

Jake.

[BLOOEY]

Jake , I sympathise with you mate. Can't empathise because everytime i've gone for the whiting on poppers i've caught a few. Have found the dirtier water half tide going out to be better for them though. Probably has something to do with the prawns being flushed out of the smaller creeks i reckon. Or maybe i've just stumbled onto a top spot for them. I catch more bycatch (bream , trevalley) than anything else most times what about yourself? Ben

[__JC__]

It pains my ego to say it but that all I've caught are two dart and a small queen fish. Both at a certain weir, early morning on the run out tide. As I said in the last post I'm pretty impatient though and usually head home or resort to yabbies after 30mins of fruitless popping.

I might just have to explore a few different spots I think. I know the fish are about at the spots i've been trying because I can catch them on yabbies but they're mostly in the 10-20cm range and won't even follow the popper. I think it scares the bastards more than anything. :P

I'm using 4kg mono line with a 10 pound fluorocarbon leader, rod is a cheap Silstar 7' 6-8kg job (would like to replace it) and a little Pflueger Trion GX-7 reel. Provided the wind is at my back (or calm) this set up casts the 45mm OK. I'm attaching the leader to the main line via small swivel which is probably wrong though. For the retrieve I've tried to mix it up, both pausing and a quick wind-pop-wind-pop.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

[jayvee]

my first recomendation would be to drop your leader to 6lb maximum fluro leader ( i use a 4lb fluro stealth leader). and if ya dont mind spendin the money try the new eco gear prawn lure i think its called a px35 about $17.00 i've cleaned up on the whiting and bream in currimundi lake here on the sun coast with it but havn't had much luck on the clear r2s popper's.... go figure!!! good luck and persist with it!! JAYVEE

[abbot_86]

nice work mate. you just cant help yourself

[84mick]

Hey Ben what kind if action do you use with poppers for whiting?

Cheers, Mick.