Where are the diver whiting

[hodges4]

Took the wife after diver whiting this morning. Turned out a real shocker. Used squid for bait and fished from the D'Arcy light to in front of St Helena. Grand total 3 fish. Tried moving around every 15 mins looking for them but no good.
The water in my opinion seemed too clear, I could see the bottom in 7ft water.

The question is, what am I doing wrong. I've seen the threads on winter whiting and some people are doing real well.

Any hint would be appreciated, might help stop the wife winging about me not knowing what I'm doing. (She's probably right)

thanks
John

[bay local]

We went out in front of the Bribie passage and got 28 in 2 hours. We have more luck using worms. Probably catch about 8 to 1 when using worms against squid and you usually have more luck just drifting around rather than being anchored.

[Outsider1]

I am no expert John , but always seem to be able to catch a feed.

What depth of water were you fishing? I tend to like deeper water, 15/20ft is my preference. Anything under 10ft and I move unless they are really on.

And yes the water has cleared up in the last few days , so again would be going deeper.

In terms of bait, I like squid too and it usually produces, but hard to argue against bloodworms other than cost, and I also find peeled cooked prawns are also good.

I usually fish the Amity banks or the Naval Reserve banks north west of Peel.

I use a paternoster rig with two no 6 or 8 long shank worm hooks on 6lb mono.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Dave

PS I am same as bay local, always drift, rarely anchor

[Dirtysanchez]

I've done alright on squid too.. cut them into stips about 4cm long, 1cm wide and give them a soak in tuna oil.. drift a while, have some sort of burley soaker out or an occasional throw of a hand full of pellets.

Patternoster sounds like a solid idea.

Do you have a sounder ?

[hodges4]

Thanks to those who have replied, tips taken on board

Dirtysanchez
Yep, got a sounder
What do I look for, surely the fish are too small to see.

John

[Dirtysanchez]

Not really mate, I have an el cheapo sounder and basically it was just showing up as a constant line of fish about a foot off the bottom, I was just putting along, so I killed the engine and had a line over in less than a minute and was on almost immediately. From there I put a burley soaker over the side with just chook type pellets in it I bought from Big W and it seemed to keep them on the go.
With the squid I could generally get a few fish or bites before I needed to either change the bait, or give it another dip in the tuna oil.

I launch at Cabbage tree creek on the northside and fish out in front of Nudgee / Shorncliffe though.

[juju]

I dont know...i tried for some live ones on the way out to mud last week...had a go near the comp adj bouy....always a safe place...nope...dead quiet......ran into a guy ive know for years and he said that they have been real patchy out in front of the airport....

[timddo]

brisbane river rock wall. peel prawns on bait jiggs.

[Coochin]

We have been catching plenty of Diver whiting out on the Cockle banks on the southern end of Bribie. Cured beach worms and squid all work fine . Some days quality is better than others but numbers are fairly constant. Keep a Raider lure loaded ready to go as there has been quite a few schools of Mackeral or Tailor chopping around the same areas. Good luck.

[Kleyny]

the northern part of the bay seems to do me fine with the winter tings.
Dont discard using yabby as bait either.
the depth i normally fish in is around the 3m mark. But the cockrel banks are roughly around 2 on a low tide.
if the fish arent on try another spot close to where you are. for some reason you might not even get a bit where you are but if you move 50m you take home a good feed.
As someone else has said 6lb mono leader i also like to use 5cm of red tube. My ting rod is farely whippy as the winter tings dont bite all that well.

neil

neil

[Maria]

Mate we've been getting plenty lately on both the Pelican and Amity Banks.

Drifting between .5m and 3m depth, 6lb gear, pea sized ball sinker on top of swivel, 50cm trace, 50mm red tube and a No8 long shank hook. Small strips of squid about 4-5cm long and 1cm wide are the go. Don't overbait the hook - there's not a lot of gape on the small long shanks. Late afternoon through to sunset has been working well.

Cheers

[juju]

Hey ill tell you one thing....none at morgans this arvo...went to stock up the bait freezer .......none there......god i cant catch a few for bait...now i cant buy them !!....back to nuke chickens...!!!

[alleycat]

We got into them on monday north of peel, either try the amity banks or the maroon banks, 10-18 ft of water, if you put in at wellington point just motor towards the northern tip of straddy until the western tip of peel is dead south, but you got to hunt around, move 150 meters at a time and take a marker, ie a weight on 20 ft or rope up to a float, this is so you can repeat your drift once you find them, use squid or bullocks heart cut into thin strips, the ones we got labor day monday were great with many 27-29cm.

[Outsider1]

Had some for Tea tonight. They were deeeelicious!

Cheers

Dave