I’ve tried fishing with a live whiting with mixed results. In your experience, what is the best way to hook a live whiting? I use a circle hook through the dorsal or through the lip, usually. Through the lip I usually end up pulling in a fish head.
I assume you’re fishing for sharks or perhaps enormous bull reds.
Sharks will tend to hit somewhere around the gills, at least in my experience. It is possible to hook them in the underside, just under the pectoral fins not too far from where the gills are. You have to basically stay in the outer portion of muscle/flesh in that area to avoid damaging the internals such that he dies too fast. Whiting are fairly tough, you may find this helpful.
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Right now the baby sharks are thick and growing. In recent trips we have caught 15-20 of them. They will find your bait quickly and rip it to shreds. Mayde try shorter soak times checking bait more often, changing locations 20-30 yards left or right each recast. Smaller hooks? Tie in a stinger hook near the tail? If you are trying for larger sharks you will probably need to get out a little farther this time of year.