How to Rig for Whiting in Perth: KGW and Yellowfin

The paternoster is the workhorse rig for KGW around weed edges, broken reef and jetty pylons. The idea is simple — keep the bait just off the bottom, above the weed, where the fish can see it silhouetted against open sand.

Tie it like this. Start with 60-80cm of 6-8lb fluorocarbon leader. Tie two dropper loops into it — lower one sitting about 10cm above the sinker, upper one 15-20cm above that. Dropper loops of 8-15cm are plenty; any longer and they tangle on the cast. Attach size 4 to size 6 long-shank hooks to the loops. Long-shank matters — it gives you something to hold while unhooking fish with cold fingers in half a metre of chop.

Finish with a small ball or bomb sinker on the bottom — enough to hold position, not so much that you’re dragging an anchor. A size 1 or 2 ball is plenty around the Perth jetties unless there’s real current. Connect to the mainline with a small swivel so the leader doesn’t twist every time a stray herring grabs a dropper.

Best spots for this rig include Rockingham Jetty, Palm Beach Jetty and inside the walls at Hillarys Boat Harbour, where you’re fishing close structure and clean sand patches between the weed.

Yellowfin whiting want a different rig. On the shallow sand flats at Warnbro Beach, Safety Bay or the estuary mouth around Mandurah Jetty, fish are often in ankle-to-knee-deep water and spook at anything unnatural. A paternoster with a clunky sinker thumping down in 40cm of water is a great way to watch a school leave.

The running sinker solves it. Thread a light ball sinker (size 00 to size 1, sometimes smaller) onto your mainline, then tie on a small swivel. Off the other side, run a long trace of 6-10lb fluorocarbon — 80cm to a full metre is not too much. Terminate with a single size 4 to 6 hook. That’s the whole rig.

The bait drifts naturally along the bottom as water moves across the flat, with the sinker sliding free so the fish doesn’t feel weight when it picks up. Cast ahead of working fish, let it settle, and hold the rod — don’t put it in a sand spike and wander off to scroll Instagram. Yellowfin hits are subtle and you want to feel them before the rod does.

Hook size matters more than most blokes admit. Size 4 long-shank is a good all-round whiting hook. Drop to a size 6 when the fish are small or fussy, step up to a 2 only if you’re getting monstered by herring and need to reduce bycatch. Chemically-sharpened hooks are worth the extra couple of bucks — a dull hook turns a timid whiting bite into a straight miss.

Leader is the biggest upgrade most Perth whiting fishers still ignore. Use fluorocarbon, not mono. 6lb for clean water and fussy fish, 8lb as a default, 10lb only around sharp pylons or where a flathead or small pinkie might grab the bait. Tie fresh leader every session — the last one has sun damage, micro-abrasions from weed, and is usually a bit curly from the reel. Costs five minutes and saves you the fish of the day.

Retie after every snag-up. Always. If you pulled hard enough to free a hook, you’ve stretched the leader and the knot is compromised. The one time you don’t is the one time you hook something worth keeping.

One upgrade worth considering — swap to circle hooks if you’re deep-hooking too many fish for release. Don’t strike, just lift into the fish. Almost eliminates gut-hooking.

Bait choice shifts with species. For King George, fresh squid strip is the gold standard — cut narrow, about 6-8cm long, threaded onto the hook so it waves in the current rather than sitting in a ball. Fresh is the operative word. Frozen bait-pack squid works, but a tube of squid you caught or bought that morning is a different proposition entirely.

For yellowfin, the classic baits are maggots, prawn pieces and tube-worm. Small baits, presented cleanly. Bloodworms are the gold standard when you can get them — genuinely hard to beat, expensive, and treated like contraband by the people who know where to dig them. If someone offers you a swap for bloodworms, take the deal.

Peeled prawn works everywhere. Fresh mulie chunks get hit by both species and everything else in the area, which is either a feature or a bug depending on how you feel about herring.

A quick practical pairing. Paternoster with squid strip at Rockingham Jetty or Palm Beach Jetty for KGW around tide change. Paternoster inside the walls at Hillarys on cleaner days, same bait. Running sinker with a long fluoro trace and small prawn or worm at Safety Bay and Warnbro for yellowfin in shallow water on the top of the tide. Running sinker around the estuary mouth at Mandurah Jetty for a mixed session — you’ll pick up yellowfin, the odd flathead, and a few surprises.

Some anglers will insist on one rig for everything and refuse to change all afternoon, then complain about the fishing. Perth whiting reward the bloke who reads the water and switches rigs when the situation changes. Five minutes of re-rigging often out-fishes an hour of stubborn casting.