Surf Fishing Rig for Whiting

Whiting are most commonly fished in the surf throughout beaches along to the coast of Florida. They usually hang out in troughs in waters less than 6 feet deep. If you’re going to catch whiting in the surf, you’re going to need to set up a good fishing rig. The dropper loop rig is the perfect rig for the job. Here we will show you how to tie this rig and how to use it to catch whiting.

Here’s what you will need:

How to Tie

  1. Cut off a piece of leader line about 5 feet in length.
  2. Tie two dropper loops in the middle of the line about 1 to 2 feet apart. Each knot should be tied roughly 1 foot away from the edge of the line. If you’ve never tied a dropper loop before, check out this video.
  3. Tie your hooks onto the dropper loops.
  4. Tie your pyramid sinker onto one end of the line.
  5. Attach the rig to your main line. This can be done with a snap swivel or by tying the lines together.

Dropper Loop Rig Diagram

How to Fish The Rig

The hard part is setting up the rig correctly. Using it to catch whiting in the surf is the easy part. Follow these guidelines to catch whiting with this rig:

  • Bait your hooks with clam, sand fleas, shrimp, or squid. Whiting are known to regularly eat all of these, so baiting your hooks with them works great.
  • Cast out your rig in the troughs where the whiting are.
  • The rig allows you to easily cover large areas along the bottom. There will be several troughs along the beach so don’t be afraid to work your way through the troughs until you get bites.

That’s really all there is to it. You don’t need to work this rig so you can place it in the sand with a sand spike and wait for the action. Again the hard part is setting it up, but after you get practice with the knots, it’s really not that difficult.

Read the complete guide to learn how to catch whiting.