Thread: Whiting and Maybe Reds?

My new lady loves to fish.. as do her kids..
I've never sat down and targeted whiting on purpose... but i feel like this would be something i could do.. what are your favorite whiting rigs? And what time of day is best?

My favorite rig for whiting and redfish is a Carolina rig. Whiting sometimes want a smaller diameter leader and a smaller egg sinker and redfish usually don't care, so I use about 15-20 pound test for reds and about 12# test for whiting. I'll use as big as a 1/2 oz. weight, depending on conditions, but my general rule of thumb is to use as small of a weight as I can get away with.
The determining factor in what I use for bait is, "Are pinfish present?" If they are, then it's a waste of time to present ghost shrimp or shrimp pieces to whiting. You'll need to use Fishbites, a prepared shrimp-flavored (so they say) bait that you can cut into fingernail-sized pieces because it will stay on your hook for a good long while even though pinfish peck at it. Absent pinfish, whiting sometimes prefer both a piece of fresh-dead (never frozen) peeled shrimp. Then again, sometimes they (especially the bigger ones) want a whole fresh-dead shrimp (so not the huge ones, since whiting have smaller mouths). My favorite bait for them is ghost shrimp. I always use "Magic Thread", an elastic self-adhesive product designed to keep baits on your hook, for ghost shrimp. You just wrap it around the ghost shrimp on your hook several times and whiting and pompano don't mind it at all. Keep in mind that whiting have small mouths when you select your hook. As for redfish, you want to present a bait that they naturally feed on, so I throw whole fresh-dead shrimp, cut bait (ladyfish, pinfish, mullet are best, I think). They will hit fresh-dead shrimp pieces, the same thing that you can use for whiting. As for the time of day, sometimes whiting and redfish will bite all day. Sometimes they bite best at dawn. You'll find whiting in schools of various sizes/numbers. Once you locate fish, you're often good to go for awhile. Redfish cruise, sometimes in small groups. If you're going to fish the surf with sand-spike rod holders, I suggest that you watch several of Bama Beach Bum's videos/tutorials on set-ups and rigs. He usually fishes for pompano, but the rigging is similar. He has several videos on tying your own rigs and his videos can show you practically everything you need to know about surf fishing.

Many people throw too far out for whiting. I often catch them very close in. Try both. I target whiting very often. I use a small piece of fresh shrimp and add a small piece of the fish bite in case a pinfish steals my shrimp. I fish light rod and small line and also like the Carolina rig with a swivel to stop the weight and size 4 or 6 hooks. Prefer Kale style hook.

I’ve caught real nice whiting on cut whiting, and cut whiting for reds is my go to. I’ll start fishing the “suds” or “foamy surface water” from the wave breaks along the shore. I’m not a fish but that’s where I’d hide from the birds above