Off The Rocks' Jeff has uploaded one of the more relatable shore-based King George whiting sessions of the 2026 season: six hours of fishing, three different rock platforms, an inherited rod with a broken tip and one drifted squid that finally cracked the day.
The trip started open-ended. "So far, I don't have a plan on what I'm going to catch," Jeff said in the car. "I'm just going to go for a bit of a drive. I've got the bait pump in the boot. I've got a bunch of bait. I'm just going to travel around today and try and get ourselves a feed."
The first beach offered up an hour of nothing. A second corner spot, the same. By the time he set up at his third location, the wind had backed in from the wrong angle and the tide was deeper than usual. "This is normally a bit lower tide spot, but water's sort of being churned up a bit," he said. "It's a bit windier than what it was meant to be."
The rod itself was carrying baggage. Jeff revealed it was a hand-me-down from his late father, broken at the tip after a previous brim session ended with a bust-off violent enough to launch the rod's nipple tip into the marina. "This old rod, she's just about end of a life, but I love it," he said. "It's a hand me down from my late father. So I've kind of been very attached to it."
At the third spot, the cycle of frustration deepened. A foul-hook into the rocks. A float jagged onto a ledge that he had to half-swim to clear. A puffer on the only solid bite. "Been out here for about six hours," Jeff said. "Zero fish, several broken lost lures, a rod that got all de-threaded, and I think it's got a broken tip cause it fell over. Persevere for a little bit longer. But I think today will be chill at home, play some games, drink some beer."
The turnaround came on the very last drift of a piece of squid into water no deeper than his knees. The rod buckled. "Oh my god, now fish on this time," Jeff said. "What have we got here? Oh, it's a yellowfin whiting. Oh my god. It's a massive yellowfin. No, it's a big King George. Would you have a look at that? Holy crap. I'm not even about a three foot off the shore."
The whiting measured 38 to 39 cm - the kind of land-based KG most shore anglers chase a season for. "Well, we'll take them every day, won't we?" he said. "Not what I would expect. We're flicking maybe ten foot off. Wouldn't even be ten foot offshore. But yeah, might be a school of them there cause I kept getting a bite pretty well every single cast. About time. It's been a long day."
A second KG followed on the next drift but came up just under at 31 cm and went back. A third whiting, this one a clean 35 cm, came on the next presentation. "Lovely 35 cm King George whiting straight off the rocks in a couple of feet of water," Jeff said. "Lucky I had the bucket there."
The school was sitting beyond a swarm of puffers that had been hammering his baits all afternoon. "They're just sitting out further past the pufferfish," he noted - a pattern any shore angler who has fought puffers for an entire tide will recognise instantly. Even a finishing move to a heavier bottom rig with chunks of fresh-fillet salmon produced one more puffer before he called it.