Winter whiting range???

[rando]

How far south do winter whiting range.??? And what kind of territory do they usually inhabit.?

Ive got a few days off down Evans Heads , My thinking is if the WWs are around down there they would be good live bait?

[Member101]

hey Rando,

Dont quote me, but im pretty sure whiting are one of those fish you can find pretty much anywhere around the coast of australia.

usually find them around beaches, sandy creeks etc. I have also caught some around mud banks too. '

Just be careful using them as live bait because they have a size limit. Anything under will get you a fine, even if using it for bait. they are a good bait though. Even the big ones will attract some attention.

Hope this helps
Steve

[rando]

Member101.
yeah , I hear ya.
Im specifically interested in "winter whiting", as you may know there are several species of the critters, including "Winter" and "Trawl" whiting both of which I believe favour deeper waters. But that is as far as my knowledge extends.

[Member101]

Hey Rando,

This is straight off a QLD DPI website.

Winter or trumpeter whiting are more commonly caught in the cooler months, although they can be found all year round. Catches of 100-150 fish are not uncommon when the fish are on, and they are caught using worms or squid for bait. They are a smaller species than the summer whiting, with an average size around 20 cm. Both species are excellent table fish and are keenly sought by recreational fishers.

And this is straight of Wikipedia

The trumpeter whiting, Sillago maculata, (also known as the winter whiting or diver whiting) is a common species of coastal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastal) marine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_%28ocean%29) fish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish) of the smelt-whiting family, Sillaginidae (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sillaginidae). The trumpeter whiting is endemic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endemism) to Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia), inhabiting the eastern seaboard from southern New South Wales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales) to northern Queensland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensland). The species is found in bays (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay), estuaries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estuaries), coastal lakes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake) and mangrove (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangrove) creeks on silty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silt) and muddy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud) substrates in waters ranging from 0 to 30 m deep, occasionally inhabiting sandy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand) and seagrass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagrass) beds. The trumpeter whiting is a benthic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benthic) carnivore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore), consuming a variety of crustaceans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crustaceans), polychaetes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychaete) and molluscs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mollusc), with a dietary shift occurring as the mature and move into deeper waters. The species spawns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spawn_%28biology%29) during summer, with young fish often penetrating into estuaries and seagrass beds.
The species is highly sought after by both recreational (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angling) and commercial fishermen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_fishermen), with the fish highly regarded as a table food. The trumpeter whiting has two close relatives, the oriental trumpeter whiting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_trumpeter_whiting) and the western trumpeter whiting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_trumpeter_whiting), which can be easily confused with S. maculata.


Hope its useful.

Steve