Where shark fishing is filled with exciting moments and maybe some laughing, fishing for whiting is the height of summer relaxation, with the added bonus of fine tasting filets at the end of the day.
Capt. Dan Utley also occasionally fishes for whiting when his clients have children in the boat who just want to catch something — or when he wants to pick up one of his favorite cobia baits. He unashamedly coolers a few of the big ones for filets since they are so tasty.
Utley said fishing for whiting isn’t rocket science; he simply picks a small J hook and enough weight to take it to the bottom. His bait of choice is normally small pieces of squid because they stay on the hook so well, but chunks of shrimp work equally well. He’ll even bait up a Sabiki rig with a few hooks removed to speed up the catching process.
Whiting are very widely scattered, and Utley finds them around the same sandbars where cobia hang out, on the edges of major channels and near the mouths of big creeks. He targets water 15 to 25 feet deep for best action.
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