Coronet Bay whiting

A bit misleading in the title of this post, as I only boated one whiting for the day. However, it's the 4th weekend in a row we've managed to get out on the water, and it's been a lot of fun. Another early start, with Dad picking me up at 5.30 and we arrived at Coronet Bay about 6.40 with a rising tide and high hopes. As we went to park, Kel (momunny from VYak) arrived and we set off. First we tried drifting throwing squid jigs around for nothing. Dad and I anchored and threw out rods with fresh squid strips on them hoping for some whiting. About 7.30 Mitch (mtfisho from VYak) turned up and started flicking a plastic. 2nd cast he was on, and pulled in a 45cm-ish flathead up to his yak and lost it at the side. His Dad Gaz (angryseal from VYak) turned up aswell and they went off trolling around. Now motivated by Mitch's hookup, I threw on a soft plastic and started drifting. Almost immediately I had a good hit and follow...... From a squid! Where was it 2 minutes beforehand when I had the squid jig on?????Dad and I decided that the whiting may be in closer in the shallows, and paddled in. Whilst flicking a plastic, my bait rod with squid strips went off and I soon pulled in a healthy 34cm whiting.


We moved a couple more times, and I got a very nice sized grass whiting, which was released due to them being far less tasty than their cousins the king george, then a couple of leatherjackets, which also went back over the side.
We paddled back towards the Coronet Bay ramp (Still not open!) and tried one last time for some squid. Dad cast out his black yamashita 2.0 and then busied himself casting out his bait rod. When he picked the squid jig rod back up he was on! Not a monster by any means, but a good size and it will be great bait for future whiting trips. It's also good to know that there are a few squid in Coronet Bay and we don't have to travel to Mornington every time we need some calamari!


We were ready to head back in, still couldn't see angryseal and mtfisho anywhere. After packing everything up and putting the yaks on the car, we finally saw them come back into view and they were out past the stick, maybe fishing for gummies or elephants?
Anyway, another good day on the water and meeting of some new faces. The forecast is good for all weekend so good luck to all who venture out!