Whiting in Perth and WA: Species, Spots and Rigs

Three species cover almost every WA whiting session, and it helps to know which one you’re holding.

King George whiting (Sillaginodes punctatus) is the prize. Bigger than the others — commonly 400–800g, up to around 4kg — silvery with rows of distinct golden-brown spots along the flanks. They feed over clean sand near seagrass beds in sheltered water, and they’re smart, wary, and worth the effort. A feed of KGs is the goal that gets people out of bed.

Yellowfin whiting (Sillago schomburgkii) is the bread-and-butter fish. Smaller — typically 300–600g — slimmer, plainer, with the faint yellow fin tint that names them. They live on shallow sand flats and estuary edges, and they’re more willing biters than the fussy KG. Many a Perth session that started chasing King George ends with a happy bucket of yellowfin instead.

Sand whiting — locally the western school whiting — is the small, abundant one. The first fish a lot of kids ever catch, working the same shallow sand as the yellowfin. Smaller again, but identical on the plate.

Tell them apart by size and spots: King George are bigger and clearly spotted; yellowfin and sand whiting are smaller and plainer. When in doubt, the spots and the size give the KG away.

King George whiting fish best from September through April, with a spring and autumn peak around Cockburn Sound and Shoalwater. Early morning and late afternoon on a rising tide are prime, and they feed by sight, so calm, clear water beats churned-up chop.

Yellowfin and sand whiting are a year-round proposition. They’re easiest in the warmer months when they push onto the shallow flats to feed on a flooding tide — ankle-to-knee-deep water that most people walk straight past on their way to “proper” fishing spots.

From the DPIRD recreational bag and size limits, the current WA limits are:

• King George whiting: minimum size 280mm (28cm), daily bag limit 12.
• Yellowfin, sand and school whiting (the Sillaginidae group, excluding KG): no minimum size, daily bag limit 30 per species — but all of them count inside the statewide “all other species of finfish” mixed bag of 30, shared with herring, garfish and mullet, so 30 is the real ceiling across the group.

No licence is required for shore-based fishing; boat-based fishing needs a Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence. If you want the numbers for one fish rather than the lot, the King George whiting size and bag limits sit on its species page, as do the yellowfin whiting limits and the western school whiting limits, each with the mixed-bag detail that goes with them. Rules change, so confirm the current numbers on DPIRD before you keep a feed — the King George minimum in particular is one that fisheries officers do check.

Order of accessibility — jetties and beaches first, drive-south last.

Two rigs cover it. For King George around jetties and weed edges, a paternoster — 60–80cm of 6–8lb fluorocarbon, two dropper loops carrying size 4–6 long-shank hooks, a size 1–2 ball sinker on the bottom. For yellowfin and sand whiting on the flats, a light running-sinker rig — a small ball sinker sliding on the mainline, a swivel, then 80cm to a metre of 6–8lb fluoro to a single size 4–6 long-shank hook, so the fish feels no weight on the pick-up.

The leader is the upgrade most people skip. Fluorocarbon, not mono — whiting have good eyesight and clear water punishes a heavy, visible line. A 7–10ft light rod and a 2500–4000 reel is plenty.

Bait is half the battle. For King George, fresh squid strip cut narrow and threaded to wave in the current. For yellowfin and sand whiting, bloodworms, beach worms, prawn pieces or nippers. Fresh beats frozen every single time — fussy sight-feeders will refuse a stale bait that a tailor would inhale.

Keep the rod in your hand. Whiting bites are a soft tap-tap-tap, not a slam, and a rod sitting in a sand spike will miss most of them. Don’t strike early — let the fish take the bait and move off, then lift into it. On the flats, walk and fan-cast to find the school rather than anchoring to one patch; once you find them, there are usually plenty.