Read the article with FishingTheSpot: the whiting fish
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See the fishing tripsThe Whiting fish
winter
27 cm
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The Whiting fish belongs to the Gadidae family. Whiting grows quite quickly and measures about 30cm at the age of two years. At 5 years old, it measures about 50cm for a weight of about 1kg. Its maximum size reaches 70 cm. its lifespan is 22 years. It reproduces from January to April. A female can lay from 200,000 eggs to 1 million eggs. It is fished in winter.
Its color is variable and can be yellowish brown, dark blue or green. Its sides are yellow-grey, white and its belly is silvery. A small dark spot is often present at the upper base of the pectoral fins.
The Whiting fish lifestyle
Adults (over 20 cm) feed almost exclusively on small fish such as sprat, sardines, herring or sand lance. They also eat polychaete worms, mollusks, crustaceans and cephalopods. They are voracious predators that usually feed during the day. However, a study carried out on sand eel predation by whiting shows that in this case, the minimum predation is between 8:00 and 10:00 am, the predation peak between 10:00 and 0:00 am. It is one of the major predators in the North Sea.
Breeding, split, begins in January-February and intensifies in March-April. It can last until June. Whiting spawn between 40 and 80m deep. A female can lay 200,000 to 1 million eggs.
The Whiting fish habitat
Whiting can be found from northern Norway and Iceland to the Bay of Biscay, the Black Sea and the Adriatic coast.
It is particularly fond of the North Sea and the English Channel. The Whiting fish is a groundfish that lives to a depth of 200m. It is found mainly on gravel and mud bottoms.
The Whiting fish angling
A fan of cold water, whiting is one of the few fish that can be caught more abundantly in winter. While most fish move away from the coast when fall arrives, It approaches the coast. To increase your chances of fishing for whiting, a full moon night is certainly more suitable; in which case, you will need to broaden your search circle after sunrise and travel longer distances.
Yes, for the very greedy whiting, which generally lives in very dense schools, sometimes composed of several hundred individuals, the competition is fierce! A real godsend for the fisherman who can easily bait him, it is preferable to use a hook with a long pole because whiting hits quickly and hard and tends to swallow it very deeply. Don't be surprised by its jaws filled with small sharp teeth and also equip yourself with a disgorger.
In terms of technicality, deep-sea fishing, to be supported, with machine guns, wedges or surf-casting are perfectly suited.
