Western Trumpeter Whiting - Sillago burrus

Western Trumpeter Whiting are light sandy brown fading to a silver belly and with a series of irregular brown elongate blotches along the upper sides.  There is a horizontal silver stripe along the middle of the body.  There is an indistinct black spot at the base of the pectoral fin.   There are dark margins on the upper and lower caudal lobes.

Trumpeter Whiting (Sillago maculata) found on the east coast of Australia are distinguished by their more rounded brown markings, darker margins on the caudal lobes, and differing swim bladder morphology.

Western Trumpeter Whiting grow to 36cms in length. 

They are considered good eating.

Western Trumpeter Whiting are found from Geographe Bay Western Australia, north through tropical waters, then south to Narooma New South Wales, in water to 15m deep. 

Also known as Western Sand Whiting, Yellowfin Whiting are silver to sandy brown.  They are identified by their yellow to orange ventral and anal fins, which fade with age and in larger fish may be colourless.  They have two slightly separated dorsal fins.  There is no dusky blotch at the base of the pectoral fin nor obvious silver stripe along the side of the body nor markings in the dorsal area.

Yellowfin Whiting grow to 1kg and 40cms in length. 

They are considered good eating. 

Yellowfin Whiting are endemic to Australia and found from Shark Bay Western Australia, south along the WA coast to Albany and east to the Spencer Gulf in South Australia.

Southern schoolies are what we catch in 10-20m in sand near 3 mile and Rotto. They are certainly Excellent eating! Best we have done is 33 cm, nice fillets, perfect for deep-frying

Sheeeez John F,

I once caught a  schoolie in the sand at rotto, went 3 mile with her, but didnt have any thought of filleting! As for eating........lets leave that one go thru to the keeper!   hehehe

Interesting to see people catch other species of sand whiting. I've been watching my whiting catches lately and trying to identify the species. Only southern school for me so far it seems. I thought I finally had a different one when they were all golden colour, but still worked out southern school (not sure why the colour diff from this school). Would really like to see a western school whiting or trumpeter in the flesh. Makes me wonder for western school whiting if they're in slightly different areas to the southerns and if you find a school in one area, are you likely to find them again in that area? Obviously yellowfin in KG's can occupy different ground to the southerns.

i live near point samson and when the wind is in i hit the whiting and i get some rippers as long as a large mortein can some of them next time i get some i will measure and take a photo . i think they are yellow fin whiting they definately look like it .still gotta fight the kids to get a feed of them once cooked they are thebest to eat.

Interesting to hear this. Always thought they where yellowfin Ive caught them hand over fist in the lower swan. 27cm is best i could do though and VERY hard to find and get good ones. I still to this day have never had fresh whiting. Nice to see fishwrecked stole my picture ;) Your very welcome lol. Picture of the girl up top with 2 sand whiting ive never seen them that big in my life. Me and my uncle have been out on sandy bottom we never got one. But the water was 28 degrees everytime we went out. Will see this summer what it brings i guess. Getting my skippers ticket soon and can use his boat so might go for a hunt and try find some. Seems to be there all great eating except the weed whiting....

Caught a number of these the other night at Hillarys. They are good eating. Typical whiting flesh. The girls even preferred them over the flathead!
Just pan fried them in butter with white pepper and lemon.

! good throw with the throw net usually feeds me and the kids but now i target them with rod and reel and have a few spots that produce quite regulary also i use little soft plastics once they on the chew and they are quite agressive have tried with little shrimp patterns on the fly but no success yet keep trying i suppose.

EasySnag, we shot a flathead spear fishing last summer. Beer battered it and had home made fish and chips.........Tasted AMAZING!!!! Still in my top few to eat.....Trouble is finding the pricks

wahey , im famous my yellowfin whiting pic is on fishwreckopedia haha.

love to eat whiting think its great, always you squid as bait, it never fails and always lat longer too.... plus great fun on real light gear too...