lack of whiting

Ive noticed that in the reports section there seems to be a lack of whiting, not even pin whiting, even in my own fishing I would expect more whiting to make a show as I thought they were more prolific, any thoughts on this would be welcome,
thanks again, Goldfish

MAYBE IT THERE ARE SO MANY CODLING/COD AROUND WITCH WOULD NOT THINK TWICE ABOUT TAKING A SMALL WHITING OR THE TRAWLERS ARE TAKING MORE OF THEM BECAUSE OF THE QUOTA ON THE COD JUST WHAT I THINK COULD BE WRONG

MAYBE IT THERE ARE SO MANY CODLING/COD AROUND WITCH WOULD NOT THINK TWICE ABOUT TAKING A SMALL WHITING OR THE TRAWLERS ARE TAKING MORE OF THEM BECAUSE OF THE QUOTA ON THE COD JUST WHAT I THINK COULD BE WRONG

yeah similar to what I was thinking, its just that in the english fishing mags they seem to complain about the amounts of whiting sometimes and the same with pouting, are they more common in england

i think the rockling have eaten them all ,i cant ever remember so many of them along the east coast

i think the rockling have eaten them all ,i cant ever remember so many of them along the east coast

I dont like rockling one of them excreted on me

Very good question,here on the west coast i must have caught only six or seven all winter,thought we would be plagued with them,strange

i too noticed that there was very little whiting about in the west. but i think they didn't come in to the beaches and piers because of the cold and heavy frost which would of kept them out in deeper water and keep the angler in from fishing as many sessions. that my opinion .

and do'nt forget about the masses of 30cm coalies all around the coast for the last 6 months. they would happily munch on the pin whiting you'll see the same trends occur in nature in all food chains annualy. one year there will be an explosion in one type of species and then the species who feed on them have a great year with the plentyfull food source and they in turn become more prolific. i supose something had to take advantage of the pin whiting plague we endured from 2 years back

Lads,
I think that you will find a certain rithm in whiting catches from year to year.In my country ,Holland we talk about the seven bad years and the seven fat ones ,especially for whiting.Fact also is that our(and your small boat anglers) can't keep there mouth shut when catching plenty of fish.Local commercial fishermen tune into that ongoing blabla on the radio's and don't have to find schools of fish,they are pointed to them.We find a catch of 50 -100 whiting a day nothing special,especially in november.We catch them between 15-20 metres on lug tipped with mackerel and (oh yes ! very small strips of.....pouting (you should try THAT guys).Once the frost comes in,the whiting follow the shrimp and migrate to deeper water ,same as cod does.No whiting ,except small ones, from the coast but ,the rest of the big ones dissapear,to come back next year.Maybe the same thing happens on the Irish coasts.
By the way, anyone any reports about Seven Heads ??

Piscator

cheers lads

If your short of pin whiting take a trip to Cushendun beach on the North East coast...it's all I got the other night!!!