WHITING OR BEBOLOS FISHING

Ikan Bebolos or Buluh (as they are known in the East Coast of Malaysia) or Putung Damar(Northern states) is one of my favorite small saltwater inshore target fishes ever since i was a kid. They are fun to catch and quite tasty to eat especially deep-fried.The English name is Whiting in the Sillaginidae family which the King George Whiting of Australia, Japanese Whiting, Northern Whiting, Sand Whiting and School Whiting belong to, not to be mistaken with the European Whiting or Merlangius Merlangus which is more of cod family found in the Mediterranean and Europe. This Whiting distribution covers the Indo-Pacific areas from the west coast of Africa, to Taiwan and Japan, and  up to the New Caledonia and Pacific Ocean.(Wikipedia source) In Australia, the King George Whiting are giant compared to the ones found in Malaysia. They grow up to around 5kg and over 70cm in length and can be caught using micro lures over flat area, whereas the ones in Malaysia hardly reach half a kg and 30cm in length and can be only be caught mostly on cut bait and Apollo rig!

Bebolos or Whiting in Malaysia can be found in shallow waters 10 to 30meters along the shore with sandy bottom where they like to congregate looking for small crabs, sand worms or tiny shell fish. Fishing for them is best using light tackle 6 to 10lb soft rods and around 6lb mono-filament line with a small running sinker and one or two small hooks with a short red tube before the hooks to attract them to take the bait. The red plastic tube can be replaced with tiny red beads as long as the color is red to simulate sand worms color which is one of their main diets. Below is a picture of my normal setup for Bebolos fishing:

My main whiting rod - #7 fly Sierra rod with an Abu Stealth 2000 spinning reel and 10lb braided main line

My whiting rig - a running ball sinker, 10lb fluorocarbon leader with two hooks and red plastic tubes

I like to use small cuts of fresh prawn without skin or cut squid which last longer because whiting love to nibble and steal the bait, so holding your rod and be alert is a must. Some locals like to use what they call Pumpun or sand worms that live in harden mud shell which can be found in muddy areas along the mangrove shore line. This worm is red in color and can be cut in small pieces as bait for the whiting and they really love it. I for one do not like to use it as they are a bit messy to handle, so as a replacement i use the red plastic tubes before the hooks to make the whiting think that i use the worms as bait. When fishing for the Bebolos or whiting it is best done just before high tide because based on my experience they are less active during low tide or move to deeper water. Finding a depression or Beruh (in local dialect) in the sandy bottom next to sand bar will be productive because they like to hang around there waiting for food to pass by for easy meal. One of the ways to find them is to slowly dragging your bait on the bottom until you get a bite, when you find one you will have to remember the spot for the next cast, chances of finding more whiting is high as they are a schooling fish. Whiting fighting energy relative to their size is quite amazing on light tackle and can give you a lot of fun when the action is hot during their season which October to April in the west coast and after the monsoon season in the east coast. They are still found along the shores during off season but not that many. Whiting share their habitat with some small inshore species like croakers, sea catfish,cowfish and pufferfish. So they sometime took the bait meant for the whiting which can be quite a nuisance.

whiting aka Bebolos and cowfish

Bebolos or Whiting can also be found in deeper water from the shore

Bebolos or whiting is  a great fish to start your kids getting hooked on fishing as i did with my son in the picture above. You should give it a try as the eating is good too. Happy fishing.

Cheers.